VITAMINES 

Essential  Food  Factors 
BENJAMIN  HARROW,  JhJX 


VITAMINES 


VIT  AM  I  NE  S 


ESSENTIAL  FOOD  FACTORS 


BY 
BENJAMIN  HARROW,  PH.D. 

ASSOCIATE   IN   PHYSIOLOGICAL   CHEMISTRY, 

COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS, 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 
681  FIFTH  AVENUE 


COPYRIGHT,  1921, 

BY  E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 
AU  Bights  Reserved 


Printed  In  the  United  States  of  America 


TO 

C.  S.  H. 

AND 

M.  H. 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  a  popular  presentation  of  a  subject 
which  concerns  every  one  of  us;  for  vitamines  are 
substances,  as  yet  ill-defined,  whose  presence  in 
food  is  essential  to  our  well-being:  their  absence 
makes  life  impossible.  And  what  more  pressing 
problem  to-day  than  that  of  food! 

The  entire  subject  is  not  more  than  ten  years 
old — we  ate  vitamines  before  1910,  but  we  were 
not  aware  of  it — yet  the  mass  of  work  that  has 
been  done  during  these  few  years  has  added 
enormously  to  our  knowledge  of  the  science  of 
nutrition.  But  the  results  of  such  research  work 
are  securely  hidden  from  the  gaze  of  the  layman 
by  their  publication  in  technical  journals,  and 
through  the  use  of  language  which  is  well-nigh 
meaningless  to  the  man  who  is  not  a  food  special- 
ist. The  aim  of  the  present  volume  is  to  reinter- 
pret, in  terms  of  our  everyday  tongue,  the  language 
of  the  research  worker.  Though  "popular,"  the 
book  is,  I  believe,  a  very  faithful  account  of  the 
labors  of  our  scientific  friends. 

Experience  has  taught  me  that  by  far  the  best 
method  of  approach  to  an  entirely  new  subject  is 
the  historical  or  evolutionary.  The  reasons  for 
each  successive  step  in  the  process  of  reasoning 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

and  experimentation  then  become  clear.  That  is 
why  I  have  devoted  the  first  part  of  the  book  to  a 
survey  of  nutrition  prior  to  the  time  when  vita- 
mines  were  introduced. 

The  summary  will,  I  trust,  be  found  to  be  a 
convenient  brief  review  of  the  entire  subject. 

The  bibliography  has  been  prepared  to  satisfy 
those  readers  whose  appetites  I  have  whetted. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Professor  W.  J.  Gies 
(Columbia),  Colonel  W.  P.  Chamberlain  (Medical 
Corps,  U.  S.  A.),  Dr.  Casimir  Funk  (H.  A.  Metz 
&  Co.),  Dr.  Arthur  Harden  (Lister  Institute, 
London),  Professor  E.  V.  McCollum  (Johns  Hop- 
kins), Professor  L.  B.  Mendel  (Yale),  Dr.  E.  G. 
Miller,  Jr.  (Columbia)  and  Dr.  T.  B.  Osborne 
(Connecticut  Experimental  Station).  These  gen- 
tlemen have  helped  me  in  a  number  of  ways. 

Professors  Gies,  Mendel  and  McCollum,  Dr. 
Funk,  Mr.  J.  E.  Whitsit  and  Mrs.  Nellie  J.  Waller- 
stein  have  been  kind  enough  to  read  the  manuscript 
and  to  offer  many  helpful  suggestions. 

My  thanks  are  also  due  to  the  British  Medical 
Research  Committee  and  to  the  editors  of  the 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  the 
Philippine  Journal  of  Science  and  the  Carnegie 
Institute  of  Washington  for  their  permission  to 
reproduce  drawings. 

BENJAMIN  HARROW. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  FAGH 

I.    INTRODUCTION 1 

II.    CALORIES 5 

III.    CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS  ....  16 

IV.    MINERAL  MATTER 36 

V.    WATER  AND  OXYGEN    .        .        .        .        .        .        .46 

VI.    AMINO-ACIDS 52 

VII.    GLYCOGEN  OR  ANIMAL  STARCH   .....  83 

VIII.    SOAP  AND  GLYCERIN 88 

IX.      VlTAMINES .           i           .  91 

X.      VlTAMINES    AND   PLANT   GROWTH           ....  112 

XI.      VlTAMINES  AND   BERIBERI 116 

XII.      VlTAMINES   AND   ElCKETS      .           .           .           .           .           .  128 

XIII.      VlTAMINES   AND   SCURVY 137 

XIV.      VlTAMINES  AND  PELLAGRA 153 

XV.    SUMMARY.    PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS        .        .        .161 

APPENDIX  : 

TABLE  OF  COMPOSITION  AND  CALORIE  VALUE  OP  THE 
MORE  IMPORTANT  FOODS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  INTER- 
ALLIED SCIENTIFIC  FOOD  COMMISSION  .  .  .  186 

ix 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

DR.  FUNK'S  CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  VITAMINES    .   188 

PER  CENT.  OF  AMINO-ACII>S  ISOLATED  FROM  VARI- 
OUS PROTEINS 189 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  VITAMINES  IN  THE  COM- 
MONER FOODSTUFFS 191 

SOME  FACTS  CONCERNING  NUTRITION,  FOR  THE 
GUIDANCE  OF  THOSE  ENGAGED  IN  ADMINISTRA- 
TION OF  FOOD  BELIEF  TO  FAMINE-STRICKEN  DIS- 
TRICTS (BRITISH  COMMITTEE'S  EEPORT)  .  .  194 

EEFERENCES 204 

INDEX  .  .    215 


LIST  OF  CHARTS 

PAGB 

FIGURE  1.  GROWTH  OP  AN  INFANT       .....  63 

"  2.  AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH  .        ....  67 

"  3.  AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH  .        .        .        .        .71 

"  4.  AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 73 

"  5.  AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 77 

"  6.  AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH  .....  79 

"  7.  ABSENCE  OF  VITAMINES 93 

"  8.  A  SATISFACTORY  SYNTHETIC  DIET        .       .       .  107 


VITAMINES 


VITAMINES 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

You  burn  a  piece  of  wood  or  coal  to  get  heat; 
but  what  makes  your  body  hotter  than  the  air 
outside?  Why,  when  the  doctor  thrusts  a  ther- 
mometer into  you,  does  the  instrument  register  a 
temperature  of  98 — and  sometimes  a  few  degrees 
higher,  if  you  have  the  "flu"  for  example — though 
the  temperature  of  the  room  is  much  lower?  Is 
your  inside  an  imitation  of  a  fireplace?  Even  if 
it  is,  the  source  of  heat  is  certainly  neither  coal, 
nor  wood,  nor  pape?,  nor  anything  else  that  is 
commonly  used  as  fuel. 

Such  questions  have  agitated  the  minds  of  think- 
ing men  from  the  remotest  times,  but  only  within 
the  last  century  or  so  have  satisfactory  answers 
been  found.  The  guess  that  the  body  had  certain 
analogies  to  a  furnace  was  a  good  one ;  but  before 
we  could  solve  the  riddle  of  the  body  furnace,  we 
had  to  acquire  clearer  notions  of  just  what  this 
"burning"  is  that  takes  place  in  the  ordinary  fire- 
place. 

If  you  want  to  make  a  fire  you  of  course  have 

1 


2  --WTAMINES 

to  have  a  fuel.  But  equally  important  is  the  pres- 
ence of  enough  air.  If  your  clothes  by  any  accident 
catch  fire,  you  are  warned  to  throw  a  wrap 
tightly  around  you,  so  as  to  prevent  access  of  air. 
Without  air  there  can  be  no  burning,  no  matter 
how  much  coal  or  wood  there  may  be. 

Oxygen.  But  what  is  there  in  the  air  that  is 
so  essential  to  burning?  The  chemist  tells  us  that 
it  is  the  oxygen.  This  gas  is  present  in  the  air 
to  the  extent  of  about  twenty  per  cent.  If  a  sam- 
ple of  air  be  taken  and  the  oxygen  removed  from 
it,  your  paper  will  not  burn;  nor  will  anything 
else  that  ordinarily  burns  in  the  air.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  you  take  your  burning  paper  or  lighted 
candle,  and  thrust  it  into  a  jar  containing  the 
removed  oxygen,  the  paper  or  candle  will  burn  with 
a  brilliancy  that  dazzles  the  eye. 

Priestley,  an  Englishman,  who  later  took  refuge 
in  Pennsylvania  to  escape  from  religious  persecu- 
tion, first  isolated  this  wonderful  oxygen  in  1771, 
but  it  remained  for  Lavoisier,  a  Frenchman,  to 
show  just  in  what  way  this  gas  is  related  to  the 
process  of  burning,  and  to  the  process  of  respira- 
tion or  "burning  in  the  body."  He  did  this  work 
while  the  French  Revolution  was  doing  its  work; 
and  he  was  rewarded  for  his  labors  by  being  guil- 
lotined. 

Lavoisier.  Lavoisier  showed  that  if  you  take 
a  piece  of  coal  and  burn  it,  the  carbon  and  the 
hydrogen,  the  two  chief  elements  in  the  coal,  com- 
bine with  oxygen,  forming  carbon  dioxide  and 
water  respectively;  thus 


INTRODUCTION  3 

carbon  plus  oxygen  yields  carbon  dioxide ; 
and  hydrogen  plus  oxygen  yields  hydro- 
gen oxide   (commonly  known  as  water)  ; 
and  that  as  a  result  of  this  combination,  a  large 
amount  of  heat  is  evolved. 

Lavoisier  next  showed  that  much  the  same  thing 
takes  place  when  food  is  taken  into  the  body. 
Here  also  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  food — just 
as  certainly  present  in  meat  and  bread  as  in  wood 
and  coal — combine  with  the  oxygen  in  the  air  ob- 
tained by  breathing,  to  yield  carbon  dioxide  and 
water,  at  the  same  time  liberating  heat. 

That  we  actually  liberate  carbon  dioxide  and 
water  can  be  easily  shown.  Take  a  straw  used  for 
drinking  a  soda  and  blow  through  it  into  a  glass 
containing  lime  water;  the  lime  water  will  imme- 
diately turn  milky.  The  same  is  true  if  you  thrust 
a  lighted  candle  into  a  jar,  keep  it  there  for  a 
few  seconds,  then  take  it  out  and  add  a  little  lime 
water  to  the  jar  and  shake.  In  either  case  the 
chemist  can  prove  to  you  that  it  is  the  carbon  di- 
oxide released  from  your  body  or  from  the  lighted 
candle  that  turns  the  lime  water  milky. 

Likewise  if  you  blow  on  a  cold  surface,  say  your 
glasses,  the  surface  becomes  moist.  If  you  burn 
your  candle  surrounded  by  a  tall  glass  chimney, 
you  will  notice  that  the  upper  portion  of  the 
chimney  becomes  moist;  this  moisture,  to  be  sure, 
soon  disappears,  but  that  is  due  to  the  heat  from 
the  candle. 

Just  as  heat  is  produced  when  the  carbon  and 
hydrogen  from  the  candle  or  coal  unite  with  the 


4  VITAMINES 

oxygen  to  form  carbon  dioxide  and  water,  so  heat 
is  produced  when  these  elements  in  the  food  we 
eat  unite  with  the  oxygen  in  the  air  we  breathe  to 
produce  the  same  products. 

Now  we  know  why  the  doctor's  thermometer 
thrust  in  your  mouth  registers  a  higher  tempera- 
ture than  the  same  thermometer  hung  in  the  room. 
And  just  as  the  coal  gives  the  heat  and  therefore 
the  energy  necessary  to  convert  the  water  in  the 
boiler  into  steam  and  so  run  the  engine,  so  prob- 
ably the  food  we  take  into  our  system  gives  us  the 
energy  needed  to  carry  on  our  daily  work. 

Measuring  Heat.  Obviously  enough,  the  value 
of  the  fuel  must  depend  primarily  upon  the  amount 
of  heat  you  can  get  out  of  it.  If  one  ton  of  coal 
mined  in  Pennsylvania  gives  you  one  and  one-half 
times  as  much  heat  as  a  ton  of  coal  mined  in 
Wales, — if  there  are  more  carbon  and  hydrogen 
and  less  impurities  in  one  sample  than  in  an- 
other— then  you  will  turn  to  Pennsylvania  for 
your  coal  supply;  provided,  of  course,  the  Welsh 
coal  is  not  so  much  cheaper  as  to  offset  the  in- 
creased fuel  value  of  the  Pennsylvania  coal. 

The  question,  then,  of  how  much  heat  you  can 
get  out  of  a  ton  of  coal — or,  as  the  coal  merchants 
and  chemists  put  it,  what  is  the  fuel  value  of  one 
ton  of  coal — becomes  of  paramount  importance. 

And  if  the  value  of  the  coal  lies  in  the  amount 
of  heat  you  can  get  out  of  it,  may  not  the  value  of 
food  depend  upon  the  amount  of  heat  it  produces 
when  "oxidized"  in  the  body?  Hence  the  impor- 
tance attached  to  a  means  for  measuring  heat. 


CHAPTER  II 

CALORIES 

I  can  buy  five  pounds  of  tea  from  my  grocer 
or  a  quart  of  milk  from  the  dairy;  but  suppose  I 
go  to  my  coal  dealer  and  ask  him  for  one  ton  of 
heat?  He  would  probably  look  me  over,  then  look 
at  his  neighbor  and  point  to  his  forehead.  The 
coal  dealer  can  give  me  one  ton  of  coal  which 
when  burnt  gives  heat,  but  neither  he  nor  any  other 
man  can  sell  me  one  ton  of  heat  as  a  market  com- 
modity. 

Why  not?  Simply  because  you  cannot  isolate 
the  heat  and  keep  it.  The  water  may  be  hot;  the 
iron  may  be  hot;  many  things  may  be;  but  the 
heat  in  all  cases  is  associated  with  something  you 
can  see  or  touch.  You  cannot  see  heat  and  you 
cannot  touch  it.  If  water  is  hot,  what  you  see 
is  the  water  and  what  you  touch  is  water.  If 
boiling  water  burns  your  fingers  whereas  cold 
water  does  not,  our  scientist  friends  inform  us 
that  in  reality  the  difference  between  the  two 
states  is  that  in  the  hot  water,  the  molecules  are 
in  more  rapid  motion  than  in  the  cold  water.  The 
molecules  are  in  more  rapid  motion.  They  run 
faster.  They  seem  to  have  more  energy. 

5 


6  VITAMINES 

Heat  indeed  is  now  known  to  be  a  form  of 
energy,  just  as  light  and  electricity  are  forms  of 
energy.  But  if  so,  how  are  we  going  to  measure 
this  heat?  What  standard  of  reference  can  we 
adopt  by  means  of  which  this  heat  can  be  meas- 
ured? In  English-speaking  countries  the  yard  and 
the  pound  are  used  as  standards  for  measure  and 
weight  respectively.  What  standard  of  reference 
can  we  apply  to  that  which  we  cannot  weigh  and 
cannot  measure? 

Water  is  the  best-known  and  the  most  useful 
liquid.  Suppose  we  take  some  water  and  heat  it, 
and  while  heating  it  let  us  thrust  a  thermometer 
into  the  water.  The  mercury  column  of  the  ther- 
mometer will  rise,  and  whenever  this  mercury 
rises  we  say  the  temperature  is  increasing.  There 
seems  to  be  a  very  simple  relationship  between  the 
amount  of  heat  the  water  acquires  and  the  rise  of 
mercury  in  the  thermometer.  Why  should  it  not 
then  be  possible  to  measure  heat  in  terms  of  the 
rise  of  the  mercury  column? 

Calorie.  That  is  exactly  what  is  done.  We 
take  as  a  standard  of  reference  that  amount  of 
heat  which  is  required  to  raise  one  kilogram  of 
water  one  degree  centigrade,  and  we  call  this  the 
calorie.  (The  kilogram  is  approximately  equal  to 
about  two  and  one-quarter  pounds.  The  kilogram, 
based  on  the  metric  system,  is  a  standard  of  weight 
invariably  used  in  scientific  work  and  very  exten- 
sively used  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Since 
the  centigrade  scale  of  measuring  temperature  is 
based  on  the  metric  system,  it  is  used  in  scientific 


CALORIES  7 

work.  One  hundred  degrees  on  the  centigrade 
scale  are  the  equivalent  of  180  degrees  on  the 
Fahrenheit  scale.  The  doctor's  thermometer  reads 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  When  he  says  that  your  tem- 
perature is  normal,  and  that  it  therefore  is  around 
98,  he  means  98  degrees  Fahrenheit.  On  the  cen- 
tigrade scale  this  temperature  would  correspond 
to  about  37. ) 

Calorimeter.  Now  suppose  we  take  a  piece  of 
coal,  crush  it  and  weigh  one  gram  of  it  (which 
represents  the  one-thousandth  part  of  a  kilogram), 
and  then  put  this  one  gram  of  coal  into  a  vessel 
surrounded  by  another  vessel  containing  one  kilo- 
gram of  water,  into  which  a  thermometer  is  in- 
serted. Let  us  further  suppose  that  when  we  burn 
this  coal  none  of  the  heat  evolved  can  escape  ex- 
cept by  way  of  the  water.  The  heat  the  coal 
evolves  in  burning  will  therefore  be  transmitted  to 
the  water,  and  this  transmission  of  heat  will  be 
registered  by  the  thermometer  in  the  water.  This 
thermometer,  let  us  say,  will  register  an  increase 
of  seven  degrees.  The  amount  of  heat  evolved 
by  one  gram  of  coal  when  burnt  will  therefore  be 
the  equivalent  of  that  produced  when  one  kilo- 
gram of  water  is  heated  seven  degrees;  or  it  ia 
the  equivalent  of  seven  calories.  For  remember 
that  one  calorie  represents  that  amount  of  heat 
necessary  to  raise  one  kilogram  of  water  one  de- 
gree, and  two  calories  would  represent  that  amount 
of  heat  necessary  to  raise  one  kilogram  of  water 
two  degrees;  and  so  on.,  On  the  other  hand,  in- 
stead of  having  the  weight  fixed  and  the  tempera- 


8  VITAMINES 

ture  changing,  we  can  reverse  the  order  and  have 
the  temperature  fixed  and  the  weight  changing. 
For  example,  one  kilogram  of  water  raised  seven 
degrees  is  the  equivalent  of  seven  kilograms  of 
water  raised  one  degree;  both  are  equivalent  to 
seven  calories. 

The  calorie  is  the  unit  of  heat.  An  arrangement 
for  measuring  heat  is  known  as  a  calorimeter.* 

Food  Values  in  Terms  of  Calories.  We  have 
seen  how  Lavoisier  had  shown  that  food  in  the  body 
undergoes  much  the  same  change  that  coal  does 
when  it  is  burnt;  in  both  cases  there  is  a  union 
with  oxygen,  with  the  ultimate  production  of  car- 
bon dioxide  and  water,  and  the  liberation  of  heat. 
The  heat  formed,  in  the  body  as  a  result  of  the 
"oxidation"  of  foods,  supplies  our  energy  require- 
ments.** If  this  energy  is  so  intimately  related  to 
heat  production,  and  if  heat  is  measured  in  calo- 
ries, why  cannot  we  measure  foods  in  terms  of 
energy-content,  by  measuring  the  number  of  calo- 

*  The  calorie  discussed  above  represents  the  large  calorie.  The 
small  calorie  is  that  amount  of  heat  required  to  raise  one  gram  of 
water  one  degree;  it  is  therefore  the  one-thousandth  part  of  a 
large  calorie. 

In  actual  practice  the  calorimeter  consists  of  a  steel  bomb,  often 
lined  with  copper  and  gold-plated,  and  a  tightly  fitting  cover  with 
screw  collar  attachment.  A  weighed  sample  to  be  tested  is  placed 
in  a  capsule  within  the  bomb.  The  latter  is  now  charged  with 
oxygen  under  pressure,  closed,  and  immersed  in  a  weighed  amount 
of  water.  The  sample  is  ignited  by  means  of  an  electric  fuse. 
The  water  is  constantly  stirred  and  the  temperature  taken  at  short 
intervals  by  means  of  a  carefully  calibrated  thermometer,  usually 
reading  to  one-thousandth  of  one  degree. 

**  Of  course,  food  has  other  important  functions,  not  the  least 
of  which  is  to  build  up  or  replace  cellular  tissue,  but  for  our  imme- 
diate purposes  in  this  chapter  these  need  not  be  considered. 


CALORIES  9 

ries  that  a  given  quantity  of  food  will  yield  when 
burnt?  A  perfectly  natural  question. 

Just  as  we  can  burn  coal  and  determine  the 
calories  liberated,  so  by  suitable  means,  we  can 
burn  any  one  of  the  many  varieties  of  food  and 
estimate  the  calories  it  produces.  In  this  way  we 
arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  one  food  is  richer 
than  another  because  it  liberates  more  calories 
when  burnt ;  because,  in  other  words,  it  yields  more 
energy. 

To  illustrate  with  an  example:  The  heat  value 
in  calories  of  one  pound  of  corned  beef  is  about 
1200 ;  that  of  one  pound  of  tomatoes,  100.  Accord- 
ing to  our  experiment  one  pound  of  beef  yields 
twelve  times  as  much  energy  as  one  pound  of 
tomatoes;  or,  one  pound  of  beef  yields  as  much 
energy  as  twelve  pounds  of  tomatoes. 

The  Body  Furnace.  But  now  the  reader  may 
ask  another  question:  If,  as  you  say,  the  body  in 
many  ways  behaves  like  a  furnace,  with  food  serv- 
ing as  fuel,  from  which  heat  is  produced,  why 
cannot  we  find  out  the  amount  of  food  or  fuel  the 
body  uses  by  measuring  the  amount  of  heat  it 
evolves?  Why  not  do  to  man  what  we  did  to  a 
piece  of  coal  or  to  a  portion  of  food? 

But  you  will  at  once  raise  the  objection  that 
such  an  experiment  would  involve  the  sacrifice  of 
a  human  being,  for  you  would  have  to  "burn" 
him  up;  a  phase  of  the  experiment  which  would 
concern  the  subject  of  it  even  more  than  the  ex- 
perimenter. On  second  reflection,  however,  you 


10  VITAMINES 

will  notice  that  your  objection  does  not  really  hold. 
For  in  man — in  all  "things  that  have  the  breath  of 
life" — the  "furnace"  is  inside  of  him.  In  reality, 
there  are  millions  and  millions  of  these  "furnaces" 
represented  by  the  millions  and  millions  of  cells. 
The  food  after  careful  preparation  by  the  digestive 
system  reaches  these  cells,  is  there  joined  by  oxygen 
from  the  lungs,  and  then  "oxidized."  No  light 
need  be  applied  either  to  the  cells  themselves  or 
to  the  body  as  a  whole. 

Just  how  the  cells  do  their  "oxidation"  work  is 
a  mystery  which  has  not  yet  been  solved,  though 
physiologists  have  a  workable  hypothesis  to  explain 
it.  What  the  cells  do  we  have  not  been  able  to 
repeat  in  a  test  tube;  which  is  another  way  of 
saying  that  the  mystery  of  man  is  man. 

Let  us  return.  We  take  our  man  and  put  him 
into  a  chamber  so  constructed  as  to  enable  us  to 
measure  the  heat  he  produces  in  the  course  of  a 
day.*  We  do  not  have  to  do  to  man  what  we  did 
to  coal — apply  a  light;  his  cells  have  their  own 
way  of  "burning"  material  without  any  help  from 
us.  We  find  that  this  man  weighing  160  pounds 
evolves  '2200  calories  in  twenty-four  hours.  He 
receives  "square  meals"  during  the  day.  What 
deduction  may  we  draw  from  such  an  experiment? 
Obviously  enough  that  the  man  must  have  "burnt 
up"  food  to  the  extent  of  2200  calories,  and  that 
therefore  food  yielding  2200  calories  must  be  sup- 
plied to  him  every  day  so  that  he  may  have  the 

*  Those  interested  in  the  actual  details  may  consult  Sherman : 
Chemistry  of  Food  and  Nutrition,  p.  158  (Macmillan  Co.,  1918). 


CALORIES  11 

necessary  energy ;  so  that  he  may  continue  to  live. 

By  repeating  such  an  experiment  with  hundreds 
of  different  men,  of  all  sizes  and  all  ages,  we  can 
arrive  at  an  "average"  figure. 

Man's  Energy  Requirements.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  basing  such  experiments  on  the  weight  of  the 
average  man — about  160  pounds — the  energy  re- 
quirements do  amount  to  about  2200  calories,  pro- 
vided he  is  resting. 

There  must  be  great  variations  in  the  energy, 
and  therefore  food  requirements.  A  man  who  is 
sick  does  not  eat  as  much  as  a  man  who  is  well. 
A  lumberman  needs  more  calories  than  a  clerk; 
an  adult  more  than  a  child;  a  man  usually  more 
than  a  woman. 

Let  us  take  some  concrete  cases.  Take  the  aver- 
age man  while  sleeping.  Sleeping  does  not  sus- 
pend cellular  activity.  Oxidation  of  foodstuffs 
goes  on,  but  not  to  the  same  extent  as  during  the 
day,  when  the  man  is  active.  During  every  hour's 
sleep  he  expends  about  65  calories.  If  he  were  to 
sleep  twenty-four  hours  he  would  expend  1680 
calories,  but  since  he  is  a  normal  man  and  sleeps 
no  more  than  about  eight  hours,  he  expends  about 
520  calories  during  this  period.  Let  us  take  it 
that  going  and  coming  from  work  consumes  two 
hours  of  the  day.  Walking  is  a  light  form  of  ex- 
ercise requiring  170  calories  per  hour;  two  hours 
give  us  340  calories.  If  the  man  is  engaged  in 
manual  labor,  as  a  carpenter  perhaps,  and  works 
the  "union"  time  of  eight  hours,  he  will  need  240 
calories  per  hour  while  so  engaged ;  a  total  for  the 


12  VITAMINES 

eight  hours  of  1920  calories.  Our  carpenter  has 
six  hours  left  for  recreation — for  reading  news- 
papers and  gossiping  and  seeing  a  "movie."  We 
must  count  the  recreation  at  a  hundred  calories 
per  hour ;  a  total  then  for  six  hours  of  600  calories. 
Adding  up  our  calories  for  the  twenty-four-hour 
period,  we  get  520  +  340  +  1920  +  600  =  3380 
as  the  total  requirement  per  working  day.  You 
see,  this  is  considerably  above  the  2200  calories 
that  the  average  man  needs  when  resting. 

You  may,  with  Tigerstedt,  classify  the  require- 
ments by  the  trade  pursued.  A  shoemaker,  he  tells 
us,  should  thank  the  Lord  when  he  gets  the  equiva- 
lent of  2400  calories,  a  weaver  2700,  a  farm  laborer 
4100,  a  lumberman  over  5000. 

'Woman* s  Energy  Requirements.  Women  need 
less.  A  seamstress  rests  satisfied — or  should  rest 
satisfied — with  1800  calories;  a  bookbinder  with 
2000;  a  servant  with  2800;  a  washerwoman  with 
3200.  Kemember  here  that  the  average  weight  of 
woman  is  less  than  that  of  man ;  so  that  in  propor- 
tion to  the  weight,  the  woman  may  receive  just  as 
many  calories  as  man.* 

Children.  Children  when  one  year  old  may 
need  about  1100  calories.  The  increased  require- 
ments for  each  succeeding  year  are — very  roughly 
'—about  100  calories.  Here  again  we  encounter 
marked  differences  between  the  requirements  of 
boys  and  those  of  girls.  Where  a  girl  of  ten  ex- 

*  The  plirase  ' '  getting  so  many  calories ' '  cannot,  of  course,  be 
taken  literally.  From  all  that  has  been  said  in  this  chapter,  we 
translate  this  oft-used  expression  to  mean  that  amount  of  food 
which,  when  oxidized  in  the  body,  yields  ' '  so  many  calories. ' ' 


CALORIES  13 

pends  1800  calories,  a  boy  of  that  age  may  expend 
2300. 

An  Army's  Food  Requirements.  The  food  re- 
quirements of  an  army  have  always  been  the  sub- 
ject of  extremely  careful  investigation.  The  fol- 
lowing figures  compiled  during  the  late  war  are 
of  interest  for  two  reasons:  they  show  the  com- 
paratively high  calorific  requirement  of  the  Amer- 
ican soldier  (somew^hat  related  to  the  state  of 
prosperity  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives),  and 
the  decidedly  different  requirement  of  the  soldier 
when  in  camp  and  in  the  field. 

Training  Field 

American  Soldier 3900  calories  4800  calories 

British  "        3400       "  4600       " 

French  "        3300       "  3600       " 

Italian  "        2500       "  3300       " 

Starvation.  If  a  body  expends  energy,  that 
energy  must  have  a  source.  The  law  of  conserva- 
tion of  energy  teaches  us  that  nothing  is  created 
and  nothing  destroyed,  but  things  do  change.  So 
if  the  body  needs  3000  calories,  these  have  their 
source  in  the  food  taken.  But  where  does  the 
hungry  man — the  starving  man — get  his  energy 
from?  The  answer  to  that  is  that  no  matter  how 
reckless  a  man  may  be  in  his  spending  habits,  the 
body  is  never  quite  so  reckless ;  it  always  stores  uj> 
a  little  food  for  "the  rainy  day/'  But  this  little 
capital  does  not  last  for  many  days.  When  the 
stored  food  has  disappeared,  the  energy  require- 
ments continue  to  be  met  by  the  "oxidation"  of  the 
tissuea — the  muscle,  the  fat,  the  skin,  the  liver, 


14  VITAMINES 

the  blood  are  used  up  bit  by  bit  until  the  human 
machine  snaps.  Most  remarkable  is  the  fact  that 
to  the  very  last  the  brain  and  heart  continue  to 
function  with  presumably  little  impairment.  They 
are  the  last  to  be  attacked. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  to  what  extent  does 
mental  work  influence  calorific  needs?  No  very 
decided  answer  to  this  all-absorbing  question  can 
be  given.  Many  experiments  have  been  tried,  but 
the  results  have  been  uniformly  negative.  In  one 
of  these  experiments  Dr.  Benedict,  of  the  Carnegie 
Institute,  measured  the  heat  evolved  by  a  num- 
ber of  college  students  during  examination  periods. 
These  poor  fellows  were  penned  up  in  calorimeters 
and  their  examination  questions  then  set  before 
them.  They  "sweated  blood."  When  the  exams, 
were  over,  the  same  men  were  put  in  calorimeters 
and  allowed  to  rest  for  a  period  equivalent  to  their 
examination  period — three  hours — and  during  this 
time  the  heat  was  measured.  No  material  differ- 
ence between  the  two  measurements  was  noticed. 

However,  it  may  be  noticed  in  passing  that 
Tashiro,  a  talented  Japanese  instructor  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cincinnati,  has  shown  that  when  a  nerve 
fiber  is  stimulated,  the  carbon  dioxide  output  is 
increased;  which  is  another  way  of  saying  that 
when  the  nerves  are  active,  "oxidation"  is  in- 
creased, and  therefore  the  calorific  needs  are 
greater.  Tashiro  had  devised  an  apparatus  for 
detecting  the  minutest  traces  of  carbon  dioxide, 
and  it  was  only  with  so  delicate  an  instrument  that 
the  increased  output  of  carbon  dioxide  could  be 


CALORIES  15 

determined.  The  amount  measured  was  so  small, 
that  it  can  hardly  make  any  appreciable  difference 
in  ordinary  metabolic  studies.  The  calorie  is  a 
true  guide  to  muscular  activity;  it  seems  to  be  no 
guide  to  the  activity  of  the  brain. 


CHAPTER  III 

CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS 

We  have  reached  the  conclusion  that  one  method 
of  estimating  the  needs  of  the  body  is  to  ascertain 
how  much  heat  the  body  liberates.  If  we  assume 
that  for  the  average,  active  individual  the  heat  lib- 
erated in  24  hours  corresponds  to  3000  calories, 
then  it  becomes  perfectly  evident  that  in  order  to 
retain  our  health,  we  must  consume  a  quantity  of 
food  which,  when  burnt  in  the  body,  will  give  such 
3000  calories.  From  tables  that  can  be  found 
in  any  book  on  dietetics  (see  Appendix)  we  can 
find  how  many  calories  a  pound  any  of  the  com- 
mon foodstuffs  will  yield  when  consumed.  It  be- 
comes then  merely  a  matter  of  selecting  enough 
food  to  give  the  necessary  3000  calories. 

The  Calorie  Is  Not  the  Only  Factor  Involved. 
Unfortunately  for  the  simplicity  of  the  science  of 
dietetics,  the  question  of  adequate  nutrition  is  a 
far  more  complicated  one.  Calories  alone  do  not 
completely  solve  the  problem.  For  take  an  exam- 
ple borrowed  from,  our  previous  chapter.  We 
there  stated  that  one  pound  of  tomatoes  represents 
a  fuel  value  of  100  calories.  If  your  requirements 
are  3000  calories  a  day,  suppose  I  were  to  suggest 

16 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      17 

to  you  that  you  satisfy  these  requirements  by  eat- 
ing 30  pounds  of  tomatoes?  You  would  laugh  at 
me.  You  would  say  you  could  not  do  it ;  it  would 
make  you  sick.  And  so  it  would,  despite  all  as- 
sertions that  your  fuel  requirements  would  be  satis- 
fied. You  do  not  object  to  tomatoes,  provided  that 
meat  and  bread  and  butter  and  milk  take  the  place 
of  most  of  the  30  pounds  of  tomatoes.  Quantity 
alone  is  not  at  all  sufficient;  quality  and  variety 
are  equally  important.  And  this  brings  us  to  the 
next  step  in  our  subject. 

Carbohydrates,  Fats  and  Proteins.  When  the 
chemist  examines  the  foodstuffs  common  to  man, 
he  finds  that  he  can  classify  them  under  three 
broad  divisions:  carbohydrates,  fats  and  proteins. 
There  are  plenty  of  differences  among  the  indi- 
vidual foods  in  each  group,  but  they  show  enough 
common  characteristics  for  them  to  belong  to  one 
family  and  to  be  differentiated  from  foods  belong- 
ing to  either  of  the  other  families.  The  fate  of 
different  carbohydrates  given  to  the  body  is  much 
the  same.  This  is  true  of  the  fats  and  proteins. 
It  is  much  like  classifying  the  people  of  the  world 
into  the  white,  yellow  and  black  races.  The  80 
or  90  million  white  people  in  America  show  plenty 
of  differences  among  themselves;  but  their  color 
and  other  anthropological  features  divide  them 
very  sharply  from  the  yellow  and  black  people. 

We  can  best  form  an  idea  of  these  three  classes 
of  foodstuffs  by  naming  foods  rich  in  one  of  the 
three.  Starch  and  sugar  are  excellent  examples 
of  carbohydrates.  Starch  is  found  in  abundance 


18  VITAMINES 

in  flour  and  all  cereals,  in  rice  and  potatoes.  Be- 
sides the  sugar  cane  and  sugar  beet,  sugar  (of  sev- 
eral varieties)  is  found  in  milk  and  fruits.  But- 
ter and  the  "fat"  of  meat,  and  much  of  cheese  and 
all  oils  represent  the  class  of  fats.  Much  of  the 
egg  and  meat  and  cheese  and  some  of  the  milk 
contain  proteins.  Very  few  of  the  common 
foods  contain  one  hundred  per  cent  of  any  one  of 
the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs;  usually  each  food- 
stuff consists  of  various  mixtures  of  two  or  three 
of  them,  as  the  following  table,  representing  the 
composition  of  some  common  foods,  will  make 
clear.  (Approximate  figures  are  given.  The  dif- 
ference between  100  and  the  sum  of  the  first  three 
figures  in  a  horizontal  column  represents — rough- 
ly— the  %  of  water.  Mineral  salts,  though  pres- 


Brea< 
Potai 
Milk 
Buttc 
Ghees 
Oran 
Appl< 
Suga 

Beef 
Mutt 
Veal 
Fish 
Fish 
Pean 
Peas 

Food 
1    (average  '  '  white  ")  .  .  . 

(P< 

Protein 
9 

$r  cent) 
Carl 
Fat         dr 
1            5 
'0.1         1 
4 
85 
36 
0.2         1 
0.5 
10 
10 
6 
36 
12 
11 
7 
8 
38            2 
0.2         1 

)ohy-1  p,  £J 
ate   ^     •£, 
4          1200 
8            380 
5             320 
3500 
0.3        2000 
2             230 
3.9          100 
0           1800 
670 
647 
1700 
860 
817 
630 
580 
4          2500 
0            252 

,oes           

2 

(whole)             

.    .       4 

r                    .             .... 

1 

le  (American  ptile) 

29 

0.8 

1 

rfcane)    . 

...     13 

(fore    shank    lean)  

...     22 

(ribs   fat)                   .  .  .  . 

.    .     15 

...     20 

...     20 

...     19 

...     14 

uts   

...     25 

(canned)   . 

4 

CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      1£ 

ent,  and  though  enormously  important,  are  not 
included  because  they  will  be  discussed  separately 
in  the  next  chapter.  See  particularly  page  37  and 
following. ) 

This  table  is  instructive.  You  will  notice — what 
has  already  been  intimated — how  all  of  the  com- 
mon foods  are  mixtures  of  two  or  three  of  the 
foodstuffs.  Cane  sugar  and  butter  are  notable  ex- 
ceptions. You  will  notice,  furthermore,  how  rela- 
tively rich  in  carbohydrates  are  bread  and  potatoes, 
and  how  relatively  poor  in  carbohydrates  but  rich 
in  protein  and  fat  are  cheese  and  eggs  and  meat 
and  fish.  You  will  notice,  if  you  glance  once  again 
at  the  table,  that  in  the  case  of  milk,  though  the 
percentages  of  fats,  carbohydrates  and  protein  are 
rather  small,  there  is  a  fairly  equal  distribution 
of  these  three. 

Now  why  should  milk,  the  sole  food  of  infants, 
contain  substantial  quantities  of  all  three  food- 
stuffs? Why  from  time  immemorial  have  men 
selected  their  food  in  such  a  way  as  to  include  sub- 
stantial amounts  of  the  three?  There  must  be 
some  good  reason  for  it.  There  must  be  some  rea- 
son why  milk  does  not  contain  one  hundred  per- 
cent of  carbohydrate  alone,  and  why  the  adult's 
food  does  not  consist  of  one  hundred  percent  fat 
or  protein  alone. 

The  Function  of  the  Three  Classes  of  Foodstuffs. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  each  class  of  foodstuff  has  a 
very  well-defined  function.  The  carbohydrates  are 
primarily  energy-formers.  Our  muscular  energy 
is  mainly  derived  from  the  carbohydrates  we  eat* 


20  VITAMINES 

It  is  in  the  course  of  such  muscular  activity  that 
heat  is  produced. 

These  carbohydrates,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the 
fats,  have  still  another  important  function.  We 
say  they  "protect"  the  proteins.  This  "protection" 
consists  in  allowing  the  protein  to  attend  to  its 
particular  business  of  tissue  up-building  and  re- 
pair, without  having  to  engage  to  any  large  extent 
in  the  side  line  of  supplying  energy.  Within  cer- 
tain limits,  the  protein  can  take  the  place  of  car- 
bohydrate as  a  source  of  energy,  but  the  carbo- 
hydrate cannot  take  the  place  of  protein  in 
building  up  tissue.  We  wish  then  to  hamper  as 
little  as  possible  a  task  which  the  protein  alone 
can  do. 

Some  physiologists  are  now  of  the  opinion  that 
the  proteins'  all-important  function  of  tissue  up- 
building is  only  possible  in  the  presence  of  carbo- 
hydrate, and  the  constant  production  of  sugar  (a 
typical  carbohydrate)  in  diabetes,  even  though  no 
sugar  is  supplied  to  the  body,  is  pointed  to  in  sup- 
port of  the  theory.  This  suggests  another  ex- 
tremely important  function  of  carbohydrates. 

What  has  been  said  of  carbohydrates  is  very 
largely  true  of  fats,  with  this  difference:  that  on 
the  whole  the  carbohydrates  are  more  readily  "oxi- 
dized" in  the  body ;  and — and  this  is  the  important 
point — the  fats  act  as  a  reserve  supply  for  the 
fuel  needs  of  the  body.  The  humps  of  camels  and 
the  fattening  of  hibernating  animals  before  winter 
illustrate  this  property  of  fats.  Your  fat  is  not 
used  until  your  carbohydrate  supply  becomes  ex- 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS  21 

hausted ;  and  if  you  eat  more  carbohydrate  than  the 
immediate  needs  of  the  body  require,  a  consider- 
able portion  of  the  excess  will  be  converted  into 
fat  and  stored  as  such.  That  explains  why  fat 
people  avoid  not  only  foods  rich  in  fat  but  also 
those  rich  in  carbohydrates. 

The  proteins  are  by  far  the  most  important  of 
the  three  classes  of  foods,  and  reasons  have  already 
been  given  for  this  view.  Let  us  give  still  an- 
other. When  we  analyze  living  matter — which, 
unfortunately,  can  be  done  only  after  all  life  has 
left  the  living  matter — we  find  that  the  elements 
always  present  are  carbon,  oxygen,  hydrogen  and 
nitrogen.  There  are  also  other  elements  in  much 
smaller  proportions,  but  they  need  not  concern 
us  just  yet.  When  we  analyze  the  food  we  eat  we 
find  that  the  carbohydrates  and  fats  consist  of  car- 
bon, hydrogen  and  oxygen  only.  To  be  sure,  the 
proportions  of  carbon,  hydrogen  and  oxygen  vary 
with  the  different  fats  and  carbohydrates;  but  in 
so  far  as  the  elements  out  of  which  the  fats  and 
carbohydrates  are  formed  are  concerned,  they  are 
always  found  to  be  carbon,  hydrogen  and  oxygen. 
It  is  only  when  we  analyze  proteins  that  we  dis- 
cover the  other  element  so  essential  to  life,  nitro- 
gen. Hence  the  indispensability  of  proteins. 

You  might  say,  but  is  not  there  plenty  of  free 
nitrogen  in  the  air,  and  do  we  not  therefore  absorb 
nitrogen  every  time  we  breathe?  We  do  take  in 
nitrogen  every  time  we  breathe,  but  we  do  not 
assimilate  it ;  we  cannot  assimilate  nitrogen  in  the 
uncombined  state.  If  you  analyze  a  sample  of  air 


22  VITAMINES 

before  you  inhale  it  and  then  analyze  it  after  you 
have  exhaled  it,  you  will  find  that  the  percentage 
of  nitrogen  remains  the  same;  only  the  percentage 
of  oxygen  has  changed. 

Now  just  as  the  soil's  need  for  nitrogen  cannot  be 
obtained  from  the  nitrogen  of  the  air,  but  from  one 
of  its  compounds,  such  as  Chili  saltpeter,  so  the 
body's  need  for  nitrogen  is  likewise  unobtainable 
from  free  nitrogen,  but  must  be  supplied  by  some 
nitrogen  compound,  preferably  protein. 

The  carbohydrates  and  fats  are  the  main  source 
of  energy  of  the  body.  The  carbon,  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  in  these  substances  are  changed  to  carbon 
dioxide  and  water,  which  in  their  turn  consist  of 
carbon,  hydrogen  and  oxygen  ;  for  remember  in  all 
chemical  changes  —  in  all  changes  —  we  never  create 
and  never  destroy,  but  merely  change.  If  we  take 
sugar  into  our  system  (and  what  is  true  of  sugar 
is  true  of  fats  and  carbohydrates  in  general)  the 
ultimate  change  that  it  undergoes  may  be  repre- 
sented by  this  equation: 


C12H22On  +  12  O2  ->12  CO2  +  11  H2O 

(  sugar  )        (  oxygen  )        (  carb.  diox.  )     (  water  ) 

(C,  carbon;  H,  hydrogen;  O,  oxygen) 

Without  attempting  to  go  into  the  chemistry  of 
such  a  reaction,  without  in  fact  requiring  any 
knowledge  of  chemistry,  you  can  easily  see  for  your- 
self that  not  only  are  the  same  elements  present  on 
both  sides  of  the  equation,  but  the  same  amounts 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      23 

of  these  elements.  They  are  in  different  combina- 
tions, however. 

But  this  equation,  like  every  other  chemical 
equation,  fails  to  show  everything  about  such  a 
reaction.  For  example,  it  fails  to  tell  us  that 
a  very  considerable  amount  of  heat,  measured  in 
calories,  is  evolved  when  the  sugar  and  the  oxygen 
combine ;  and  this  heat  is  the  all-important  factor 
in  so  far  as  the  body  is  concerned. 

But  the  equation  fails  to  answer  another  ques- 
tion, of  particular  consequence  just  now  to  the 
student  and  philosopher.  Extensive  researches 
have  shown  that  fats  and  carbohydrates  are  not 
immediately  broken  down  into  carbon  dioxide  and 
water;  there  are  a  number  of  intermediate  stages. 
One  or  two  of  these  intermediate  steps  have  been 
located,  but  much  of  what  goes  on  in  the  body  fac- 
tory still  remains  a  mystery. 

Since  the  proteins  also  contain  carbon,  hydrogen 
and  oxygen,  besides  nitrogen,  the  first  three  ele- 
ments in  the  protein  molecule  can  be  oxidized  to 
carbon  dioxide  and  water  in  much  the  same  way 
as  the  fats  and  carbohydrates,  with  the  consequent 
liberation  of  energy  in  the  form  of  heat.  But  pro- 
teins, as  we  have  already  discussed,  serve  another 
purpose;  and  besides,  they  are  more  expensive 
foods  than  the  fats  and  carbohydrates.  And  even 
if,  theoretically,  there  is  no  reason  why  a  person 
cannot  live  on  protein  alone,  provided  he  takes 
enough  of  it,  and  does  not  mind  the  extra  expense, 
experience  teaches  us  that  to  live  on  protein  alone 


24  VITAMINES 

is  not  advisable.  The  tax  on  the  body  in  having 
to  handle  such  large  quantities  of  protein  is  such 
that,  in  time,  the  vitality  of  the  organism  is  appre- 
ciably diminished. 

Minimum  Food  Requirements.  From  what  has 
been  said  regarding  the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs, 
it  becomes  evident  that  calories  do  not  represent 
the  sum  total  of  nutritional  requirements.  Besides 
a  sufficient  number  of  calories,  we  must  have  a 
judicious  distribution  of  these  calories  in  terms  of 
the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs.  But  how  much  of 
each  must  we  take?  Are  there  any  minimum  re- 
quirements of  protein,  fat  and  carbohydrate? 

Taking  up  the  fat  and  carbohydrate  first,  as  the 
easier  problem  to  solve,  we  may  state  that  since 
both  of  these  serve  primarily  as  sources  of  energy, 
the  amounts  taken  per  day  should  be  such  as  to 
correspond  to  the  energy  requirements  of  the  body. 
If  the  average  man  liberates  heat  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  3000  to  3500  calories  per  day,  he  should  be 
given  enough  fat  and  carbohydrate  to  form  this 
amount  of  heat.  Of  course,  the  fact  should  not  be 
lost  sight  of  that  the  very  constitution  of  the  pro- 
tein molecule  shows  it  to  be  an  energy-forming  as 
well  as  a  tissue-replacing  substance.  That  means 
that  the  amount  of  fat  and  carbohydrate  eaten  need 
constitute  a  little  less  than  the  equivalent  of  3000 
to  3500  calories.  That  means  that  in  order  that 
we  may  know  how  much  less  than  3000  to  3500 
calories  the  fat  and  carbohydrate  need  produce,  we 
must  first  ascertain  the  minimum  protein  require- 
ments of  the  body. 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      25 

Instinct  as  a  GiMe  to  Man's  Food  Require- 
ments. As  with  all  questions  relating  to  food, 
the  earlier  experimenters  on  protein  requirement 
were  largely  guided  by  mankind's  accumulated 
experience  in  the  matter.  When  the  average  of 
many  thousands  of  examples  was  taken,  the 
amount  of  protein  consumed  per  day  by  the  indi- 
vidual was  a  little  more  than  100  grams.  If  we 
take  the  rough  estimate  of  30  grams  as  being  the 
equivalent  of  one  ounce,  the  hundred  grams  would 
be  the  equivalent  of  a  little  more  than  three  ounces. 

Around  this  protein  requirement  of  100  grams 
per  day  there  have  raged  battles  royal,  and  the  de- 
cisive test  has  yet  to  be  made.  From  the  purely 
economic  standpoint  this  protein  requirement  be- 
comes an  extremely  important  one,  because  the 
proteins  are  the  most  expensive  of  the  three  classes 
of  foodstuffs.  If  then  we  could,  without  harm  to 
the  population,  replace  part  of  the  protein  by  the 
other  two  foodstuffs,  it  would  be  conferring  a  bene- 
fit on  the  poor  part  of  the  population,  unless  by  so 
doing,  our  good-natured  speculators  would  come 
to  the  rescue  of  their  pockets  and  demand  an  in- 
crease in  price  for  fats  and  carbohydrates! 

Some  information  was  shed  on  the  subject  of  pro- 
tein requirement  by  a  careful  examination  of  the 
diet  of  Asiatics,  particularly  the  Bengalis  in  India. 
Their  diet  is  largely  vegetarian,  and  they  consume 
not  more  than  37  grams  of  protein  per  day — about 
a  third  of  what  the  European  consumes.  The 
Bengalis,  it  was  pointed  out,  are  an  inferior  race 
to  the  Europeans,  both  physically  and  mentally, 


26  VITAMINES 

and  this  inferiority  was  now  largely  attributed  to 
deficient  protein  consumption. 

This  conclusion  did  not  go  unchallenged.  Sci- 
entists attempted  many  quantitative  experiments 
to  arrive  at  some  definite  results.  Unfortunately 
for  the  scientist,  the  human  body,  though  a  mechan- 
ism in  some  ways,  is  still  far  more  than  a  mechan- 
ism. What  holds  true  of  chemical  reactions  does 
not  necessarily  hold  true  of  body  changes.  Here 
there  are  so  many  factors  over  which  man  has  as 
yet  no  control ;  and  even  when  he  realizes  some  of 
these  factors,  they  are  rarely  so  well-defined  as  to 
stand  the  test  of  experiment. 

Mr.  Horace  Fletcher.  But  if  scientists  per- 
formed quantitative  experiments,  there  were 
others,  not  scientists,  who  performed  what  some 
like  to  call  "common-sense"  experiments.  A  par- 
ticularly conspicuous  individual  in  this  direction 
was  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher,  whom  readers  of  news- 
papers must  remember.  Here  was  a  man  who  had 
passed  middle  age  and  who  had  been  refused  life 
insurance  because  of  delicate  health.  "Fie  upon 
ye!"  cried  Fletcher;  "there  is  absolutely  nothing 
the  matter  with  me,  except  that  I  eat  much  too 
much,  and  am  not  careful  in  what  I  choose." 
Whereupon  Mr.  Fletcher  began  by  cutting  down 
calories  and  increasing  the  time  taken  to  masti- 
cate food.  "Fletcherism"  became  a  fad. 

From  our  standpoint  what  is  particularly  note- 
worthy in  Mr.  Fletcher's  praiseworthy  experiments 
on  himself  is  the  relatively  small  quantity  of  pro- 
tein he  consumed.  Mr.  Fletcher's  physique  im- 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      Sfl 

proved  decidedly.  Fatigue  and  lameness  and  colds 
all  disappeared.  Naturally  enough,  Fletcher  attrib- 
uted his  success  to  the  adoption  of  his  modified 
regimen;  and  in  this  modified  diet,  a  conspicuous 
feature  was  the  small  amount  of  protein  it  con- 
tained. 

Nitrogen  Equilibrium.  There  is  another  way  of 
attacking  the  problem  of  protein  requirement — a 
more  scientific  way.  But  before  we  describe  this, 
a  few  preliminary  observations  become  necessary. 

The  reader  will  remember  what  we  said  above 
concerning  the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs, — that 
only  the  proteins  contain  the  element  nitrogen. 
When  we  come  to  trace  the  course  of  this  protein 
in  the  body  we  find  that,  in  so  far  as  the  nitrogen 
part  of  the  protein  is  concerned,  it  is  mainly  oc- 
cupied in  replacing  decayed  tissue.  Whenever  the 
cell  takes  up  the  nitrogen  compound  to  build  up 
tissue,  it  gives  up  a  corresponding  amount  of  a 
nitrogen  compound  which  represents  the  waste 
material.  This  waste  material  finds  its  way  chiefly 
into  the  urine.  Very  small  quantities  are  found 
in  the  feces  and  sweat. 

Now  suppose  we  determine  the  amount  of  nitro- 
gen in  the  food  we  eat,  and  then  determine  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  excreted.  If  the  quantities 
are  approximately  equal  we  say  we  have  reached  a 
"nitrogen  equilibrium":  the  expenditure  is  equal 
to  the  income. 

All  normal,  adult  people  show  such  a  "nitrogen 
equilibrium."  The  case  is  different  with  growing 
children.  The  child  grows;  the  number  of  his 


28  VITAMINES 

cells  multiply;  he  must  therefore  keep  some  of 
his  nitrogen  for  additions  to  his  little  house.  Here 
the  nitrogen  intake  will  be  greater  than  the  output. 

Sick  men  and  sick  children  may  serve  as  the 
reverse  example  of  the  healthy,  growing  childi 
Here  the  tissues  may  go  to  waste  without  any  cor- 
responding replacement.  That  would  mean  that 
the  nitrogen  eliminated  from  the  body  is  more  than 
the  amount  the  body  receives  from  its  food. 

Where  man  has  reached  the  limit  of  growth  and 
is  in  a  healthy  condition,  the  output  and  income 
of  nitrogen  equal  one  another.  If  you  give  him 
twice  as  much  protein  (and  therefore  twice  as 
much  nitrogen)  one  week  as  another,  you  will  soon 
find  that  this  healthy  man  will  begin  to  eliminate 
twice  as  much  nitrogen  as  he  did  formerly.  The 
body,  you  see,  does  not  store  protein  the  way  it 
stores  fat.  Eat  more  fat  than  you  can  handle,  and 
the  extra  fat  accumulates  in  your  adipose  tissue 
and  you  become  a  fat  man.  (Sometimes  you  be- 
come a  fat  man  without  eating  too  much ;  but  such 
cases  belong  to  pathology.)  Eat  more  carbohy- 
drate than  the  body  can  handle,  and  the  surplus 
stock  is  converted  into  fat  and  stored  as  before. 
Eat  more  protein  than  the  body  can  utilize  and 
the  surplus  is  thrown  out.  As  has  already  been 
said,  the  last  statement  does  not  hold  true  for 
children. 

On  the  face  of  it  you  would  say  that  if  your 
adult  shows  that  his  nitrogen  output  and  income 
balance  one  another — that  he  is  in  "nitrogen  equi- 
librium"; that  then  he  gets  all  the  nitrogen  neces- 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      29 

sary  to  rebuild  waste  tissue.  He  gets  what  he 
needs  and  in  sufficient  quantity. 

Now  the  nitrogen  comes  from  the  protein,  and 
the  protein  alone.  Experience  has  shown  that  this 
nitrogen  constitutes  about  16  per  cent  of  the  total 
protein.  This  means  that  we  need  merely  multiply 
the  amount  of  nitrogen  found  by  the  number  6.25 
to  give  us  the  amount  of  protein  eaten ;  for  16  times 
6.25  equals  100.* 

Suppose  an  extended  series  of  trials  on  a  man 
show  us  that  when  he  eats  food  containing  the 
equivalent  of  16  grams  of  nitrogen  per  day  he  also 
eliminates  the  equivalent  of  16  grams  of  nitrogen. 
His  balance  sheet  is  clear.  He  is  probably  a 
healthy,  normal  individual.  He  is  supplied  with 
food  in  sufficient  quantity.  These  16  grams  of 
nitrogen  in  the  food  show  that  he  must  have  eaten 
16  times  6.25,  or  100  grams  of  protein.  So  we 
may  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  100  grams  of 
protein  are  probably  necessary  for  our  individual 
to  retain  his  good  health.  This  will  give  an  idea 
of  how  we  arrive  at  a  minimum  protein  require- 
ment. 

Now  let  us  take  one  or  two  examples  to  illus- 
trate this  method  of  investigation. 

Professor  Chittenden's  Experiment.  Yale  men 
will  remember  Chittenden,  the  director  of  the 
"Shef."  Scientific  School.  Some  years  ago  Chit- 
tenden selected  a  number  of  instructors,  including 

*  The  food  may  also  include  nitrogen  compounds  other  than 
protein,  but  it  is  unnecessary  at  this  stage  to  complicate  the  situa- 
tion more. 


30  VITAMINES 

himself,  students  and  army  men  attached  to  the 
hospital  corps,  and  made  them  the  subjects  of  an 
experiment  in  which  the  amount  of  protein  in  the 
diet  was  gradually  reduced  from  a  little  over  100 
grams  to  50,  and  in  some  cases  to  30  grams  per 
day.  The  loss  in  energy  due  to  reduction  in  the 
protein  supply  was  counterbalanced  by  increasing 
the  quantity  of  fat  and  carbohydrate,  so  that  the 
total  number  of  calories  remained  constant.  Even 
with  as  low  as  30  grams  of  protein  (about  one 
ounce)  the  "nitrogen  equilibrium"  was  maintained, 
showing  apparently  that  the  health  of  the  subjects 
was  in  no  way  impaired.  Chittenden  of  course 
drew  the  obvious  conclusion  that  our  protein  con- 
sumption could  be  cut  to  one-half  without  in  any 
way  lowering  the  vitality  of  the  individual.  He 
maintained — and  here  he  agreed  with  Fletcher — 
that  some  of  the  ills  of  humanity  were  due  to  ex- 
cessive protein  intake;  and  that  therefore  the  re- 
duction of  the  protein  in  the  food  eaten  also  less- 
ened the  possibilities  of  disease.* 

Dr.  Eindhede.  Chittenden's  views  were  sup- 
ported by  Dr.  Hindhede,  of  the  Nutrition  Labora- 
tory in  Copenhagen ;  and  during  the  strenuous  days 
of  the  late  war,  when  the  food  of  people  even  in 
the  neutral  countries  was  limited,  Hindhede's  in- 
fluence was  such  that  the  feeding  of  the  Danish 
population  was  left  very  much  in  his  charge. 

Objections  to  a  Too  Low  Protein  Diet.    From 

*  For  further  details  the  reader  may  consult  Dr.  Chittenden 's 
very  readable  works:  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition  and 
The  Nutrition  of  Man.  Both  are  published  by  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Co. 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      31 

what  has  been  said,  I  do  not  want  the  reader  to 
get  the  impression  that  the  problem  of  protein  re- 
quirement has  been  definitely  solved  in  favor  of 
the  rather  low  figures  of  Chittenden  and  Hindhede. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  tendency  among  the  most 
prominent  food  experts  is  to  retain  a  figure  nearer 
to  100  grams  of  protein  than  50,  as  the  rations  of 
armies  and  civilian  populations,  guided  by  the  ad- 
vice of  such  experts,  shows  (see  below).  There 
are  one  or  two  important  reasons  for  preferring 
the  older  figures.  One  is  that  scientific  experi- 
ments are  usually  of  short  duration — a  few  weeks, 
sometimes  a  few  months;*  and  a  diet  that  may 
do  little  harm  in  the  course  of  a  month  may  do 
infinite  harm  if  extended  over  a  period  of  years. 
This  objection  can  be  made  to  Professor  Chitten- 
den's  work,  and  is,  in  fact,  so  general  that  it  can 
be  raised  against  many  of  the  experiments  in  nutri- 
tion, unless  animals,  such  as  rats,  are  employed 
whose  duration  of  life  is  considerably  shorter  than 
man's;  so  that  months  in  the  life  of  a  rat  may 
correspond  to  years — and  even  more — in  the  life  of 
a  hitman  being.  But  here  again  you  may  say 
that  what  is  true  of  the  rat  need  not  necessarily 
be  true  of  man.  Your  point  is  well  taken. 

The  gratifying  results  obtained  in  Denmark  dur- 
ing the  war  by  feeding  the  people  little  protein 
diet,  as  suggested  by  Dr.  Hindhede,  look  like  a 
victory  for  those  who  urge  a  low  protein  diet.  Un- 
questionably most  of  us  do  eat  more  protein  than 

*  Some  of  Dr.  Hindhede  'a  experiments  are  exceptions,  for  they 
lasted  from  one  to  two  years. 


32  VITAMINES 

is  necessary;  but  the  question  arises,  as  we  read 
Dr.  Hindhede's  paper,  whether  the  decreased  mor- 
tality in  Denmark  was  not  to  some  extent  at  least 
due  to  a  decreased  alcohol  consumption? 

But  there  is  still  another  objection  against 
adopting  a  too  low  protein  standard.  The  discus- 
sion in  a  subsequent  chapter  will  show  that  what 
holds  true  of  calories  holds  true  of  protein:  that 
just  as  you  may  supply  the  body  with  all  the  calo- 
ries it  needs  and  yet  ruin  the  system  if  a  well-bal- 
anced selection  of  the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs 
is  not  chosen,  so  you  may  fulfil  protein  require- 
ments and  still  ruin  the  body,  because  the  type  of 
protein  you  have  selected  is  poor  in  certain  very 
necessary  constituents.  As  the  difference  between 
different  proteins  is  largely  a  matter  of  the  amount 
of  these  necessary  constituents,  it  becomes  self- 
evident  that  100  grams  of  protein  are  more  likely 
to  give  the  necessary  amount  than  50. 

You  may  say,  well  then  if  that  is  the  case,  why 
not  increase  the  protein  intake  even  further?  Why 
stop  at  100  grams?  Why  not  go  on  to  200  and 
300  grams?  The  objection  to  too  large  quantities 
is  one  mainly  of  cost.  Further,  an  excess  of  pro- 
tein means  an  excess  production  of  waste  products. 
The  drain  on  the  system  becomes  too  great,  and 
the  possibilities  of  a  resulting  lowered  vitality  are 
very  much  increased. 

You  have  then  to  find  the  happy  medium  of  satis- 
fying the  protein  requirements  and  yet  of  not  more 
than  satisfying  such  requirements. 

If  I  have  gone  into  the  subject  of  protein  require- 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS   S3 

ment  at  some  length,  it  is  because  so  much  of  the 
entire  subject  of  dietetics  depends  upon  it;  so  much 
of  the  health  of  populations  depends  upon  it.  And 
yet  we  are  still  at  some  distance  from  a  complete 
solution  of  the  problem. 

A  Satisfactory  Diet.  Taking  into  consideration 
all  that  has  been  said,  and  some  other  factors  that 
cannot  well  be  discussed  in  a  volume  of  this  kind, 
experts  have  adopted  the  following  as  a  satisfac- 
tory diet  for  a  healthy  man  of  average  weight: 
protein  100  grams  (3.6  ounces),  fat  100  grams  and 
carbohydrate  500  grams  (18  ounces).  The  varia- 
tions for  different  individuals  are  quite  consider- 
able, but  the  example  just  given  may  serve  as  a 
basis. 

Experiments  have  shown  that  one  gram  of  pro- 
tein when  "oxidized"  in  the  body  yields  heat  to  the 
extent  of  4  calories;  that  one  gram  of  fat  under 
identical  conditions  will  yield  9  calories;  and  one 
gram  of  carbohydrate  4  calories.  From  100  grams 
of  protein,  therefore,  we  get  the  equivalent  of  100 
times  4,  or  400  calories;  from  100  grams  of  fat  we 
get  100  times  9,  or  900  calories;  500  grams  of  car- 
bohydrate give  us  500  times  4,  or  2000  calories. 
The  total  energy  value  then  is  400  plus  900  plus 
2000,  or  3300  calories. 

Professor  Bayliss  gives  us  the  following  figures : 
100  grams  of  protein  are  contained  in  181/2  ounces 
of  steak,  5  pints  of  milk,  1%  pounds  of  oatmeal, 
13%  ounces  of  dried  meat,  or  2%  pounds  of  bread ; 
100  grams  of  fat  are  contained  in  4%  ounces  of  but- 
ter; 500  grams  of  carbohydrate  are  contained  in 


34  VITAMINES 

2  pounds  of  bread,  %  pound  of  oatmeal, 
pounds  of  potatoes  and  one  pound  of  sugar.  ( See 
the  table  in  the  Appendix.  Those  of  my  readers 
who  are  interested  in  the  composition  of  foods  and 
their  calorific  value  may  write  to  the  Superinten- 
dent of  Documents,  Washington,  D.  C.,  requesting 
Bulletin  28,  Office  of  Experiment  Stations,  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture.  Enclose  lOc.  but  not 
in  stamps.) 

Soldiers'  Rations.  Food  experts  attached  to  the 
armies  in  the  late  war  had  excellent  opportunities 
for  studying  the  nutritional  needs  of  large  bodies 
of  men.  The  war  ration  adopted  by  the  British 
for  their  men  in  the  field  was  protein  158  grams, 
fat  200  grams,  and  carbohydrate  514  grams;  a 
total  of  4600  calories.  This,  you  see,  is  far  above 
that  necessary  for  the  average  man  in  peace  time, 
and  even  above  what  is  necessary  for  the  soldier 
when  in  training  camp.  Our  own  soldiers  when  in 
training  received  protein  139  grams,  fat  129  grams 
and  carbohydrate  539  grams;  a  total  of  3980  calo- 
ries. 

The  following  "garrison  ration"  was  the  basis  for 
feeding  our  soldiers  in  the  training  camps  ( the  num- 
bers refer  to  ounces)  :  meat  20,  beans  2.4,  prunes 
1.28,  sugar  3.2,  lard  0.64,  syrup  9.32,  flour  18,  po- 
tatoes 20,  coffee  1.12,  milk  0.5  and  butter  0.5.  Also 
small  quantities  of  salt,  pepper,  cinnamon,  vinegar 
and  flavoring  extract.  "For  calculation  of  the 
value  *>f  the  ration/'  writes  Major  John  R.  Murlin, 
in  charge  of  the  food  supplies  at  the  training 
camps,  "certain  definite  substitutions  are  made. 


CARBOHYDRATES,  FATS  AND  PROTEINS      35 

For  example,  70  per  cent  of  the  meat  component 
is  issued  as  fresh  beef,  20  per  cent  as  ham,  and  10 
per  cent  as  bacon;  50  per  cent  of  the  bean  com- 
ponent is  calculated  as  beans  and  50  per  cent  as 
rice;  70  per  cent  of  the  potato  component  as  pota- 
toes, 20  per  cent  as  onions  and  10  per  cent  as  toma- 
toes, etc.  .  .  .  The  average  value  of  the  ration  in 
the  training  camp  .  .  .  has  been  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  39  cents  per  man  per  day"- — a  rather  mod- 
est sum  when  compared  with  the  cost  of  the  ration 
of  the  average  citizen ! 


CHAPTER  IV 

MINERAL   MATTER 

When  you  burn  a  piece  of  coal  or  paper  or  wood 
you  always  have  some  ash  left.  The  housewife  and 
the  stoker  consider  the  ash  nothing  but  a  nuisance. 
It  cannot  be  burnt  and  therefore  is  of  no  heat 
value.  A  relatively  large  percentage  of  ash  in  your 
coal  immediately  decreases  the  value  of  the  fuel. 

If  you  burn  a  piece  of  meat  or  any  of  the  com- 
mon foods,  you  will  also  get  some  ash  left.  In 
order  to  see  this  ash  it  will  be  necessary  for  you 
to  do  a  little  more  burning  than  the  careless  house- 
wife does  when  she  manages  to  spoil  her  dinner. 
The  chemist  burns  such  food  by  placing  it  in  a 
porcelain  receptacle  which  he  calls  a  crucible,  and 
putting  the  latter  in  turn  in  a  muffle  which  can  be 
heated  red  hot.  In  time  the  charry  product  gives 
place  to  a  gray  and  sometimes  almost  pure  white 
mass,  the  color  depending  upon  the  variety  and 
quantity  of  the  various  mineral  constituents  in  the 
ash.  The  operation  is  now  complete.  All  the 
black  carbon  has  disappeared.  What  is  left  is  the 
"ash."  It  is  material  in  which  the  elements  sodium 
and  potassium  and  calcium  and  phosphorus  pre- 
dominate. The  ash  is  called  "inorganic"  because 

36 


MINERAL  MATTER  37 

it  is  free  from  carbon.  A  substance  containing 
carbon — like  the  meat  we  started  with — would  be 
called  "organic." 

Mineral  Matter  or  "Ash"  an  Essential  Part  of 
the  Diet.  Useless  as  this  ash  is  to  the  housewife 
and  stoker,  the  ash  in  our  food  is  an  indispensable 
part  of  the  dietary.  We  could  as  easily  dispense 
with  the  protein  as  we  could  with  the  ash,  or,  as  it 
is  sometimes  called,  the  "mineral  matter";  and 
this  is  merely  another  way  of  saying  that  the  ab- 
sence from  the  diet  of  either  one  of  these  would 
soon  cause  death. 

Not  only  then  must  our  calorific  requirements 
be  fulfilled;  not  only  must  there  be  a  careful  dis- 
tribution of  our  food  in  the  shape  of  protein,  fat 
and  carbohydrate;  but  the  food  must  also  contain 
a  certain  amount  of  ash  or  mineral  matter.  For- 
tunately, all  of  our  foods  contain  mineral  matter 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree;  so  that  without  neces- 
sitating any  particular  selection  on  our  part,  we 
usually  satisfy  the  mineral  requirement  without 
much  difficulty. 

The  Elements  in  Mineral  Matter.  When  we 
submit  a  bundle  of  cells,  consisting  of  living  mat- 
ter, to  chemical  analysis,  we  find  that  fats,  pro- 
teins and  carbohydrates  are  present  in  much  the 
same  way  as  in  our  foods.  The  general  composi- 
tion of  living  matter  and  of  the  food  we  eat  is  much 
the  same.  Another  type  of  chemical  examination 
shows  us  that  living  matter  consists  of  such  ele- 
ments as  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen  and  nitrogen, 
again  in  much  the  same  way  as  our  foods  do.  In 


38  VITAMINES 

addition,  there  are  smaller  quantities  of  calcium, 
phosphorus,  potassium,  sulphur,  sodium,  chlorine, 
iron,  iodine,  etc.  Understand  that  these  elements 
are  not  present  in  the  free  state.  You  cannot  take 
a  piece  of  protoplasm  and  point  to  the  iron  or 
chlorine  that  it  contains.  No,  the  iron  and  the 
chlorine  and  all  the  other  elements  in  the  proto- 
plasm are  so  combined  that  they  lose  their  individ- 
ual properties. 

Just  as  our  foods  must  contain  carbon,  hydro- 
gen, oxygen  and  nitrogen  not  merely  to  supply  the 
necessary  energy,  but  also  to  build  or  rebuild  tis- 
sue, so,  in  order  to  build  or  rebuild  tissue,  we  must 
supply  such  elements  as  calcium,  phosphorus,  so- 
dium, etc. ;  for  these  elements  just  as  surely  enter 
into  the  composition  of  living  matter.  It  is  these 
elements — calcium,  phosphorus,  etc. — in  various 
chemical  combinations,  that  constitute  the  ash  or 
mineral  matter. 

I  should,  of  course,  qualify  my  statement  some- 
what when  I  speak  of  the  composition  of  living 
matter.  Strictly  speaking,  we  do  not  know  the 
composition  of  living  matter.  Every  time  we  sub- 
mit protoplasm  to  chemical  analysis,  those  familiar 
properties  which  in  toto  manifest  themselves  to  us 
as  "life"  disappear.  All  that  we  can  say  is  that 
the  probabilities  favor  the  assumption  that  while 
the  internal  arrangements  of  the  molecules  in  liv- 
ing matter  are  different  from  matter  which  is  no 
longer  'living,"  the  elementary  composition  of 
both  remains  the  same. 

How  Mineral  Matter  Functions.    While  an  im- 


MINERAL  MATTER  39 

portant  function  of  the  mineral  matter  in  diet  is 
to  supply  certain  necessary  elements  that  go  to- 
wards building  protoplasmic  material,  the  mineral 
matter  performs  other  functions  equally  impor- 
tant ;  but  most  of  these  are  of  such  a  nature  as  not 
to  be  very  easily  intelligible  to  the  layman.  In  a 
general  way,  it  may  be  stated  that  these  mineral 
constituents  play  an  important  part  in  regulating 
the  concentration  of  liquid  within  and  without  the 
cell,  and  in  maintaining  the  body  in  a  state  of 
neutrality. 

This  last  sentence  sounds  "technical";  but  per- 
haps by  amplifying  it  we  can  make  it  less  so.  Man 
is  made  up  of  millions  of  cells.  These  cells  are 
bathed  by  the  lymph  and  blood  which  bring  food  to 
the  cells  and  carry  away  the  waste  material.  The 
cells  and  blood  and  lymph  may,  for  our  purposes, 
be  considered  as  liquids  in  which  solids  are  dis- 
solved— in  some  such  way  as  the  liquid  water  can 
dissolve  the  solid  salt.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  physi- 
co-chemical studies  of  cells  have  shown  them  to  be 
of  far  more  complex  structure  than  the  last  sen- 
tence would  indicate;  but  no  matter.  The  cells, 
you  will  remember,  are  pictured  as  more  or  less 
spherical  in  shape.  If  the  liquid  outside  the  cell 
contains  much  dissolved  solid  as  compared  to  the 
amount  of  dissolved  solid  within  the  cell,  the  latter 
shrinks  in  size.  If  the  reverse  is  true — if  the  liquid 
within  the  cell  contains  more  dissolved  solid  than 
that  without — the  cell  will  expand  and  perhaps 
burst.  In  either  case  we  reach  an  abnormal  or 
pathological  condition.  It  is  only  when  the 


40  VITAMINES 

amount  of  dissolved  solid  within  and  without  the 
cell  is  equal,  or,  to  put  it  better,  when  the  pressure 
exerted  within  and  without  the  cell  is  equal,  that 
normal  conditions  are  retained.  The  dissolved 
solids  regulate  these  conditions;  and  the  particu- 
lar solids  that  are  largely  responsible  for  this 
regulatory  mechanism  are  the  mineral  salts  or 
"ash." 

Body  Neutrality.  Another  function  of  the  min- 
eral salts,  that  of  maintaining  neutrality,  also 
deserves  further  emphasis.  The  cells  are  readily 
responsive  to  the  slightest  disturbances  due  to  out- 
side influences.  Even  slight  changes  in  the  cells 
may  give  rise  to  profound  disturbances  in  the  body. 
Usually  an  amount  of  acid  is  formed  in  the  body 
which  might  do  much  harm  to  the  cells  and  there- 
fore to  the  body  as  a  whole.  In  steps  the  mineral 
matter  and  neutralizes  the  acids.  (It  should  be 
mentioned  that  other  substances  apart  from  min- 
eral matter  also  show  this  property.)  Of  course 
there  are  cases  where  the  mineral  matter  is  power- 
less to  do  anything. 

Salt.  In  some  instances  some  very  specific  func- 
tions can  be  assigned  to  a  number  of  the  constitu- 
ents of  mineral  matter,  aside  from  the  very  general 
function  of  the  latter  of  contributing  to  the  struc- 
ture of  protoplasm.  Salt  (the  ordinary  "table 
salt")  is  one  of  these.  When  the  masticated  and 
somewhat  chemically  modified  food  finds  its  way 
into  the  stomach  it  there  undergoes  further 
changes,  and  one  of  the  two  important  substances 
that  bring  these  changes  about  is  hydrochloric 


MINERAL  MATTER  41 

acid.  This  acid,  consisting  of  the  two  elements, 
hydrogen  and  chlorine  in  chemical  union,  is  not 
a  constituent  of  any  of  our  foods,  and  therefore  is 
not  taken  into  our  system.  In  fact,  a  concentrated 
solution  of  it  is  a  decided  poison,  and  a  man 
contemplating  suicide  would  be  apt  to  think  of 
hydrochloric  acid  as  a  means  to  that  end.  Yet 
one  of  the  body's  branch  factories,  situated  near 
the  lining  of  the  stomach,  manufactures  a  very 
weak  solution  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  helping  the 
digestion  of  food. 

The  Acid  in  the  Stomach.  Many  theories  have 
been  advanced  to  explain  just  how  the  body  is 
capable  of  producing  the  hydrochloric  acid,  but 
none  is  very  satisfactory.  Since  the  acid  consists 
of  hydrogen  and  chlorine  in  chemical  union,  there 
must  be  a  source  of  these  elements  in  the  body. 
There  is;  but  just  how,  beginning  with  the  raw 
material,  we  can  produce  the  finished  article,  is  a 
mystery.  The  source  of  the  chlorine  is  salt,  which 
itself  consists  of  the  elements  sodium  and  chlorine 
chemically  combined.  This  contribution  to  the 
formation  of  acid  in  the  stomach  is  a  very  impor- 
tant function  of  the  salt  we  eat. 

An  Illustration  of  Chemical  Action.  It  may  be 
of  interest,  as  illustrating  just  what  a  chemical 
action  may  involve,  to  say  a  word  or  two  about  the 
salt.  Salt,  as  we  have  said,  is  composed  of  the 
two  elements  sodium  and  chlorine  in  chemical  com- 
bination. The  chemist  gives  the  name  sodium 
chloride  to  salt  so  as  to  indicate  its  composition  by 
name.  Sodium  itself  is  a  lustrous,  grayish-white 


42  VITAMINES 

metal,  extremely  poisonous,  and  reacts  violently 
with  water  the  minute  it  comes  in  contact  with 
the  liquid.  Students  are  warned  to  store  their 
sodium  in  bottles  containing  kerosene.  They  are 
also  warned  to  handle  the  metal  with  forceps  and 
not  with  the  fingers,  and  to  be  careful  never  to 
bring  it  in  contact  with  any  water,  except  under 
carefully  regulated  conditions.  Chlorine,  the  other 
constituent  of  salt,  is  a  light-yellow  gas,  of  suffo- 
cating odor  and  very  poisonous.  Its  extensive  use 
on  the  western  front  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
war  is  only  too  well  known  to  this  generation.  Yet 
here  are  these  two  elements,  the  one  a  poisonous 
solid  and  the  other  a  poisonous  gas,  which  can  be 
made  to  unite  with  one  another  to  give  you  sodium 
chloride  or  salt,  which  in  appearance  does  not  in 
the  least  suggest  sodium  or  chlorine,  and  which 
has  not  only  the  negative  virtue  of  being  non- 
poisonous,  but  the  positive  one  of  being  an  abso- 
lutely indispensable  article  in  our  diet. 

Though  salt,  like  the  other  mineral  constituents, 
is  present  in  the  foods  we  eat,  it  is  one  of  the  very 
few  that  we  deliberately  add  to  the  diet.  We  use 
it  and  say  that  it  gives  flavor  to  the  food.  So  it 
does.  But  you  see  now  that  its  function  is  not 
limited  to  that  of  a  mere  condiment, 

Calcium  and  Phosphorus.  The  skeleton  of  bone 
largely  consists  of  a  substance  to  which  chemists 
give  the  name  calcium  phosphate,  which,  judging 
by  its  name,  evidently  contains  calcium  and  phos- 
phorus. Here,  then,  we  can  point  to  a  very  im- 
portant function  of  these  two  elements.  We  may 


MINERAL  MATTER  43 

add  one  or  two  others.  If  you  cut  yourself  so  that 
blood  comes  to  the  surface  of  the  skin,  why  does 
blood  continue  to  flow  only  a  little  while  and  then 
stops  altogether?  (I  am  here  ignoring  very  serious 
injury.)  You  will  notice,  if  you  have  the  courage 
to  watch  nature's  operation  closely  enough,  that 
the  blood  eventually  forms  a  clot  and  so  fills  up 
the  leak.  This  clotting  or  "coagulation"  of  the 
blood  would  be  impossible  but  for  the  calcium  pres- 
ent. To  be  sure,  clotting  is  a  process  that  involves 
more  than  the  participation  of  calcium,  but  this 
element  is  necessary. 

A  number  of  very  complicated  substances — the 
phosphatids — are  found  in  larger  quantities  in 
the  brain  than  in  other  parts  of  the  body.  Though 
we  do  not  know  just  what  the  phosphatids  do,  the 
mere  fact  that  they  are  present  points  to  a  prob- 
able function;  but  the  fact  that  they  are  in  such 
abundance  in  brain  tissue  particularly,  implies  that 
a  phase  or  phases  of  brain  activity  may  be  asso- 
ciated with  their  presence.  The  name  phosphatid 
will  possibly  suggest  to  the  reader  that  it  is  de- 
rived from  the  phosphorus  it  contains.  Phospha- 
tids do  contain  phosphorus. 

"Phosphorus  for  the  Brain."  Since  phospha- 
tids contain  phosphorus,  and  since  phosphatids  are 
present  in  large  amounts  in  the  brain,  it  was  some- 
what natural  to  assume  that  by  increasing  the 
amount  of  phosphorus  in  the  food,  mental  develop- 
ment might  be  influenced,  possibly  accelerated. 
All  experiments  in  this  direction  have  failed  to 
confirm  such  an  assumption.  Nevertheless,  the 


44  VITAMINES 

idea  was  sufficiently  attractive  to  quacks  and  their 
advertising  agents  for  them  to  seize  upon  it  and 
create  the  slogan  "phosphorus  for  the  brain." 

Phosphorus  is  essential;  a  certain  minimum 
quantity  must  be  present;  but  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow  that  a  surplus  over  the  minimum  can 
be  used  to  advantage. 

When  we  speak  of  phosphorus  as  being  an  es- 
tential  in  diet  we  do  not  mean  the  element  in  the 
free  state.  We  never  do  mean  the  elements  in  the 
free  state.  Phosphorus  is  a  poison.  "Phosphorus 
poisoning"  is  quite  common  in  match  factories. 
But  just  as  carbon  is  essential  not  in  the  form  of 
coal,  but  in  the  form  of  some  "food"  containing  it 
"in  chemical  combination/'  so  phosphorus  is  util- 
ized only  when  presented  in  "chemical  combina- 
tion" with  other  elements.  Oxygen  is  the  only 
element  in  the  free  state  that  is  utilized  by  the 
body. 

Iron  is  another  essential  constituent  of  the  diet. 
It  is  needed  to  supply  the  iron  present  in  hemo- 
globin, the  red  pigment  of  the  blood.  "Eat  iron 
and  you  will  be  strong" — another  one  of  those 
pieces  of  advice  offered  by  quacks  to  credulous  peo- 
ple. If  you  are  anemic,  iron  in  the  form  of  one 
of  its  compounds,  particularly  such  as  are  found 
in  our  foods,  may  be  of  some  benefit ;  but  far  more 
important  is  to  readjust  your  manner  of  living. 
A  wholesome  diet,  plenty  of  sleep  and  plenty  of 
fresh  air,  will  do  more  to  rebuild  your  red-blood 
cells  than  any  of  the  iron  tonics  that  have  ever 
been  invented. 


MINERAL  MATTER  45 

'A  Comparison  of  the  Behavior  in  the  Body  of 
Mineral  Matter  and  the  Organic  Foodstuffs.  A 
feature  which  sharply  distinguishes  the  behavior 
of  mineral  matter  from  that  of  fat,  carbohydrate 
and  protein,  is  that  the  former  undergoes  no  change 
prior  to  absorption  by  the  blood.  Your  salt,  for 
example,  passes  from  the  mouth  to  the  stomach, 
and  then  into  the  intestine,  and  is  there  absorbed 
through  the  walls  of  the  intestine,  finding  its  way 
directly  into  the  blood  stream — the  blood  in  turn 
carrying  the  salt  to  the  various  tissues  of  the  body. 
The  fat,  protein  and  carbohydrate,  however,  under- 
go extensive  alterations  before  the  blood  gets  hold 
of  them.  The  process  of  digestion  is  the  process  of 
converting  the  fats,  proteins  and  carbohydrates 
into  such  a  state  as  to  make  them  fit  for  absorp- 
tion by  the  blood.  When  you  suffer  from  indi- 
gestion, that  usually  means  that  the  workmen  in 
the  digestive  tract — known  as  "enzymes'7 — respon- 
sible for  the  preparation  of  the  foods  in  a  form 
capable  of  assimilation  by  the  blood,  are  either  sick 
in  bed,  or  too  tired  because  of  twelve-hour  shifts 
(due  to  excessive  eating),  or  are  out  on  strike 
because  of  low  wages  (perhaps  due  to  underfeed- 
ing). 


CHAPTER  V 

WATER  AND  OXYGEN 

Water.  The  struggles  in  life  are  largely  strug- 
gles to  satisfy  part  of  our  food  requirements.  The 
other  part  the  slum  dweller  gets  as  easily  as  the 
owner  of  a  Fifth  Avenue  mansion.  That  "other 
part"  is  water.  Perhaps  some  day  our  food  specu- 
lators will  have  studied  the  science  of  nutrition 
sufficiently  to  realize  that  water  is  as  much  a  food 
as  meat  and  butter  and  eggs;  then  they  will  tax 
their  ingenuity  to  devise  a  means  by  which  the 
production  of  this  valuable  liquid  can  be  con- 
trolled, or  its  output  restricted.  But  I  must  not 
put  the  speculator  on  this  scent. 

Abundant  in  quantity,  and  reaching  the  con- 
sumer at  little  or  no  cost,  few  of  us  ever  include 
water  in  our  list  of  foods ;  yet  it  is  common  knowl- 
edge that  you  can  forgo  eating  longer  than  you 
can  drinking.  Water  does  not  undergo  any  such 
changes  in  the  digestive  tract  as  do  fats,  proteins 
and  carbohydrates;  it  is  in  fact  absorbed  and  as- 
similated by  the  system  without  any  change — like 
salt ;  and  like  the  latter,  yields  no  available  energy. 
Its  extreme  importance  arises  from  two  facts:  in 
the  first  place,  a  large  percentage  of  living  matter 

46 


WATER  AND  OXYGEN  47 

consists  of  water;  secondly,  the  various  phases  of 
cellular  activity  require  water  as  a  medium.  We 
are  told  that  "all  physiological  actions  have  their 
seat  in  systems  containing  water  as  an  essential 
element" ;  which,  translated  into  our  everyday  lan- 
guage, means  that  life  would  be  impossible  without 
water.  Thales,  the  ancient  Greek  philosopher, 
appreciated  this  when  he  formulated  his  system  of 
philosophy  in  which  water  was  made  the  origin  of 
all  things.  Even  our  good  friend  Aristotle  made 
water  one  of  the  cardinal  points  of  his  system  of 
the  universe.  It  is  only  in  our  own  day  that  our 
indifference  to  the  liquid  has  become  so  apparent, 
and  that  in  place  of  it  we  have  come  to  worship 
the  cocktail,  which,  nevertheless,  may  contain  over 
90  per  cent  of  water. 

Our  water  requirement  we  get  in  several  ways. 
Plebeians  get  it  largely  from  water  direct.  Almost 
all  of  us  get  some,  and  many  of  us  get  most  of  our 
water  from  beverages.  But  all  of  our  solid  foods 
contain  water.  Some,  such  as  fruit  and  many 
vegetables,  may  contain  as  much  as  80  to  90  per 
cent  of  the  liquid.  That  is  why  the  calorific  ex- 
pert claims  that  you  do  not  get  your  money's  worth 
by  eating  fruits  and  vegetables.  Our  later  chap- 
ters will  show  that  the  calorific  expert  will  need 
to  revise  some  of  his  opinions. 

Oxygen.  In  our  discussion  of  calories,  we  em- 
phasized that  our  source  of  energy  arises  from  the 
burning  (or  combustion,  or  oxidation)  of  foods 
in  our  system.  This  burning,  as  was  pointed  out, 
is  impossible  without  the  presence  of  oxygen  (or 


48  VITAMINES 

air,  which  contains  oxygen),  just  as  oxygen  is 
needed  to  burn  a  candle. 

If  by  a  food  we  mean  a  substance  which  supplies 
or  helps  to  supply  energy,  or  one  which  repairs 
the  waste  of  tissues  and  provides  raw  material  for 
growth,  or  a  substance  which  serves  both  these 
functions,  then  oxygen  is  most  certainly  a  food. 
Absorbed  by  the  lungs  from  the  air  and  taken  up 
by  the  red  blood  cells  in  the  blood,  the  oxygen  is 
distributed  to  the  cells  of  the  body,  and  there  the 
oxidations  take  place. 

The  consequences  of  a  lack  of  oxygen  supply  are 
soon  apparent.  Sometimes  the  individual  may  be 
surrounded  by  plenty  of  air,  but  his  bodily  machin- 
ery may  be  in  such  poor  condition  that  he  finds  it 
difficult  to  assimilate  the  necessary  supply.  The 
disease  known  as  asthma  may  serve  as  an  example. 
Sometimes  again  the  supply  of  air  may  be  limited. 
Again  a  gas  may  be  present  in  the  air  of  which  the 
red  blood  cells  may  be  fonder  than  of  oxygen. 
Cases  of  asphyxiation  come  under  this  heading. 
Here  one  of  the  products  of  the  incomplete  burn- 
ing of  coal  in  the  stove,  carbon  monoxide,  fills  the 
room  and  finally  enters  our  blood,  which  seems  to 
have  a  greater  "affinity"  for  it  than  for  oxygen. 
But  carbon  monoxide  cannot  substitute  for  oxygen 
in  the  burning  of  foods;  so  death  results. 

"Fresh"  Air.  Since  the  need  for  "air"  is  pri- 
marily our  need  for  oxygen,  the  question  arises, 
why  the  desire  for  fresh  air?  Does  such  air  con- 
tain more  oxygen  than  the  air  of  a  well-ventilated 
room?  That  cannot  be,  for  the  percentage  of  oxy- 


WATER  AND  OXYGEN  49 

gen  in  each  is  the  same.  Have  the  other  constitu- 
ents of  the  air  an  influence?  No  doubt,  but  the 
most  careful  chemical  and  bacteriological  analysis 
fails  to  distinguish  the  air  outside  from  the  air  in 
a  well-ventilated  apartment.  "A  partial  explana- 
tion" [of  the  obviously  beneficial  effects  of  fresh 
air] ,  writes  Professor  Bayliss,  "may  be,  as  Leonard 
Hill  contends,  that  the  effect  [in  a  room]  is  due  to 
the  absence  of  currents  of  air  and  the  stimulation 
of  the  skin  produced  by  them.  It  would  thus  be 
a  result  of  failure  of  stimulation  of  the  nervous 
system.  The  general  experience  of  more  refresh- 
ing sleep  obtained  when  the  bedroom  window  is 
open  tends  to  support  the  view  of  the  importance 
of  the  effect  on  the  nervous  system.  The  benefit  of 
a  'cold  bath'  is  probably  of  a  similar  nature,  as  is 
also  that  of  'exercise'  to  a  certain  extent/' 

Condiments,  Flavors  and  Stimulants.  Look  in- 
to a  rotisserie  window  and  notice  how  "it  makes 
your  mouth  water."  Making  "your  mouth  water" 
is  a  fact,  not  a  fiction.  Psychical  influences  in 
stimulating  digestion  are  extremely  important,  as 
innumerable  experiments  have  shown.  These 
psychical  influences  may  stimulate  digestion  by 
stimulating  the  secretion  of  digestive  juices — the 
fluids  responsible  for  so  altering  the  food  as  to 
make  it  fit  for  absorption  by  the  blood  and  the  sys- 
tem as  a  whole. 

Often  enough  we  get  no  psychical  reaction  after 
surveying  the  dishes  spread  on  the  table.  Pot 
roast  may  not  be  a  relishing  dish  to  some.  To 
make  it  more  so  we  may  do  one  of  several  things. 


50  VITAMINES 

,We  may  add  a  little  mustard  or  a  little  ketchup 
to  our  pot  roast;  or  we  may  eat  it  with  some  pick- 
les; or  we  may  add  some  salt  and  pepper.  Per- 
haps none  of  these  additions  serves  the  purpose. 
If  so,  another  dish  has  to  be  substituted.  But 
very  often  the  mustard  or  pickles,  etc.,  do  help. 
Any  one  of  these  additional  substances  helps  to  dd 
what  the  mere  looking  at  an  appetizing  dish  will 
do — increase  the  flow  of  digestive  juices.  The 
primary  function  of  these  flavors  and  condiments 
is  to  make  the  food  more  appetizing. 

Slightly  removed  from  the  substances  just  de- 
scribed are  the  stimulants,  of  which  tea,  coffee, 
cocoa,  meat  extracts  (beef  tea,  beef  juice,  etc.), 
and,  above  all,  alcohol  are  examples.  They  too — 
particularly  alcohol — stimulate  the  flow  of  the 
digestive  juices.  With  some  of  them,  as  with  tea 
and  coffee,  the  stimulation  is  due  to  the  presence 
of  an  alkaloid,  and  alkaloids  are  distinctly  injuri- 
ous when  taken  in  large  quantities;  hence  the  ad- 
visability of  moderate  tea  and  coffee  drinking. 

Very  few  of  these  substances  add  much  to  our 
calorific  needs  or  to  our  requirements  for  tissue 
repair;  though  cocoa,  with  its  relatively  large 
quantity  of  sugar  and  fat  (in  the  milk),  and  beer 
do  give  appreciable  energy  values.  But  notice  that 
the  calories  are  not  derived  to  any  extent  from 
the  stimulant  itself,  but  from  the  substances  mixed 
with  the  stimulant  or  condiment. 

AlcohoL  The  best  known,  the  best  hated  and 
the  best  loved  stimulant  is  alcohol  (the  "grain" 
or  drinking  alcohol  as  distinguished  from  the  wood 


WATER  AND  OXYGEN  51 

alcohol).  Some  who  see  in  alcohol  only  a  sub- 
stance which  has  been  invented  to  curse  mankind, 
refuse  to  include  it  in  a  list  of  stimulants ;  and  the 
weight  of  much  medical  authority  favors  such  an 
exclusion.  On  the  other  hand,  in  diseases  such  as 
pneumonia,  its  beneficial  effect  has  been  amply 
proved.  But  that,  say  its  opponents,  can  be  said 
of  all  medicines;  for  they  all  help  in  small  doses 
and  injure  in  large. 

A  small  amount  of  whiskey  or  a  couple  of  glasses 
of  beer  a  day  have  not  been  shown  to  have  any 
evil  effects  on  the  normal,  healthy  individual.  You 
may  argue  that  this  is  merely  a  negative  virtue. 
But  the  moderate  drinker  claims  more  for  his  al- 
cohol. He  insists  that  it  serves  as  an  excellent 
appetizer,  and  his  experience  leads  him  to  contra- 
dict some  of  the  learned  doctors.  He  tells  you 
that  the  little  alcohol  he  consumes  gives  him  an 
optimistic  view  of  life,  which  not  all  the  bungling 
of  politicians  can  destroy. 

The  case  is  quite  different  witH  excessive  alcohol 
consumption.  Here  the  facts  point  to  but  one 
conclusion :  alcohol  in  excess  is  a  poison.  Autopsy 
examinations  have  proved  this  beyond  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt.  You  may  find  impairment  of  the 
stomach,  of  the  heart,  and  above  all,  of  the  nervous 
system.  But  why  wait  for  these  discoveries  until 
death  overtakes  the  sufferer?  The  results  of  ex- 
cessive alcohol  consumption  on  the  individual  while 
still  alive  are  only  too  obvious  to  the  onlooker. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AMINOACIDS 

Having  surveyed  rather  rapidly  the  various  sub- 
stances that  function  as  foods;  having  shown  that 
the  calorific  value  gives  incomplete  information; 
having  shown  the  importance  of  a  judicious  dis- 
tribution of  food  among  the  three  classes  of  food- 
stuffs; having  pointed  out  the  importance  of  min- 
eral salts,  of  water,  of  oxygen,  and,  to  a  lesser 
extent,  of  condiments,  flavors  and  stimulants,  it 
now  becomes  important  to  investigate  some  of  these 
factors  a  little  more  carefully. 

During  the  last  twenty,  and  largely  during  the 
last  ten  years,  research  work  in  nutrition  has  revo- 
lutionized that  science  no  less  than  the  study  of 
radioactivity  has  revolutionized  our  conceptions 
of  matter.  This  and  subsequent  chapters  will  deal 
with  these  revolutionary  changes — changes  made 
possible  very  largely  by  the  labors  of  American 
men  of  science. 

How  the  dawn  of  the  modern  era  arose  is  an 
interesting  bit  of  history.  It  centers  itself  around 
a  study  of  the  protein  food. 

Gelatin.  Early  in  the  last  century,  long  before 
a  science  of  nutrition  had  been  founded,  the  im- 

52 


AMINO-ACIDS  59 

portance  of  protein  in  the  diet  was  recognized. 
But  so  also  was  the  recognition  that  protein  is  the 
most  expensive  part  of  the  dietary.  Meat,  which 
is  largely  protein,  became  a  luxury  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  poor  during  the  stirring  days  of  the 
French  Revolution  and  the  years  that  followed. 
What  was  to  be  done?  The  people  had  to  have 
meat  because  it  contained  protein,  but  perchance 
there  were  substances  other  than  meat  that  con- 
tained this  precious  nutrient?  Others  were  known, 
such  as  the  casein  in  milk  and  the  albumen  in  egg, 
but  eggs  and  milk  were,  if  anything,  even  more  ex- 
pensive than  meat. 

Then  a  happy  idea  struck  the  scientists  of  the 
French  Academy.  Were  there  not  enormous  quan- 
tities of  bones  discarded  yearly  out  of  which  gelatin 
could  be  extracted,  and  was  not  this  gelatin  a  pro- 
tein? Behold  the  panacea!  D'Arcet  invented  an 
economical  method  for  extracting  the  gelatin,  and 
a  committee  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  in  solemn 
session  assembled,  declared  the  process  and  the 
food  all  that  could  be  desired. 

The  learned  Academy's  report  was  published  in 
1814.  On  the  strength  of  this  report  the  French 
Government  began  their  experiments  at  the  hos- 
pitals. Why  sick  people  rather  than  criminals 
were  selected  is  not  clear.  To-day  when  the  United 
States  Department  of  Public  Health  desires  to  ex- 
periment with  people,  it  usually  turns  to  Sing  Sing 
and  places  of  that  kind ;  and  then  the  experiment  is 
conducted  with  volunteers  only. 

The  sick  people  in  some  of  the  French  hospitals 


54  VITAMINES 

were  given  gelatin  in  place  of  other  proteins.  They 
digested  it  easily  enough ;  gelatin  jellies  in  fact  are 
easily  digestible.  But  after  a  time  the  sick  people 
fell  sicker, — in  such  numbers  and  under  such  con- 
ditions that  only  the  change  of  diet  could  account 
for  it.  Like  the  politician  who  is  the  hero  to-day 
and  becomes  the  traitor  to-morrow,  poor  gelatin  was 
thrust  from  its  lofty  pedestal  back  into  the  refuse 
from  which  it  had  been  rescued. 

But  what  was  the  matter  with  gelatin?  Why 
could  not  this  protein  substitute  the  proteins  in 
meat,  egg  and  milk?  Years  elapsed  before  a  satis- 
factory answer  was  found.  At  any  rate,  the  world 
in  the  meantime  learnt  the  lesson  that  merely  giv- 
ing a  man  100  grams  of  protein  without  specifying 
the  kind  of  protein  meant  no  more  than  giving  a 
man  food  yielding  a  sufficient  number  of  calories, 
without,  however,  specifying  how  the  food  was  to  be 
distributed  among  the  classes  of  foodstuffs.  But 
life  on  this  earth  continued,  and  many  died  and 
many  more  were  born,  because  instinct  and  experi- 
ence led  us  to  do  the  things  we  did  do.  To  find  an 
answer  to  the  question  why  one  protein  is  less 
nutritive  than  another  requires  an  examination  of 
the  fate  of  the  protein  after  it  has  entered  the 
system.  But  here  the  earlier  investigators  suffered 
from  the  drawback  that  they  were  ignorant  of  the 
chemical  constitution  of  proteins,  and  were  there- 
fore ill-equipped  to  study  the  changes  of  the  pro- 
tein in  the  system. 

Amino-Adds.    It  was  subsequently  discovered — 


AMINO-ACIDS  55 

by  Emil  Fischer  *  and  others — that  the  proteins  are 
made  up  of  chemical  units  in  much  the  same  way 
that  words  are  made  up  of  letters ;  and  just  as  the 
twenty  odd  letters  are  sufficient  to  form  the  many 
different  words  in  our  language,  so  the  eighteen  or 
more  chemical  units,  obtained  by  analyzing  pro- 
teins, are  sufficient  to  form  the  different  proteins 
with  which  we  are  familiar.  These  chemical  units 
are  known  as  amino-acids. 

When  a  protein  such  as  is  found  in  meat  is  eaten, 
the  several  juices  act  upon  it  and  break  it  up  into 
its  amino-acids.  We  have  learnt  that  this  breaking 
up  of  a  protein  in  the  digestive  tract  is  a  necessary 
prerequisite  to  absorption  and  assimilation.  The 
system  cannot  absorb  protein  as  such.**  Introduce 
protein  directly  into  the  blood  and  it  acts  like  a 
poison ;  but  introduce  the  amino-acids  out  of  which 
the  proteins  are  built,  and  all  goes  well. 

The  factories  in  which  the  protein  is  prepared  for 
absorption  are  the  stomach  and  the  small  intestine. 
Here  the  proteins  are  changed  to  amino-acids, 
which  then  find  their  way  into  the  blood  stream, 
and  thence  to  the  cells. 

In  the  cells  occurs  the  reverse  process  of  what 
takes  place  in  the  digestive  tract ;  instead  of  break- 
ing up  proteins  into  amino-acids,  the  latter  are 

*  Professor  McCollum  suggests  that  "  Kossel 's  name  be  substi- 
tuted for  Fischer's,  since  Kossel  did  so  much  more  pioneer  work 
in  showing  the  nature  of  the  protein  molecule  and  in  the  discovery 
of  four  amino-acids,  whereas  Fischer  only  discovered  one.  I  have 
felt  that  more  credit  is  due  to  Kossel  than  is  usually  given  him. " 

**  A  little  may  be  absorbed  unchanged,  but  the  amount  is  negli- 
gible. 


56  VITAMINES 

joined  together  to  form  proteins.  Analysis  gives 
place  to  synthesis. 

But  why  this  breaking  down  of  proteins  into 
their  units  if  these  act  merely  as  nuclei  for  rebuild- 
ing protein?  A  perfectly  fair  question.  But  re- 
member that  we  are  not  rebuilding  the  same  pro- 
tein. The  same  letters  will  give  you  different  words, 
depending  upon  the  arrangement  of  the  letters. 
The  same  bricks  will  give  you  different  houses,  de- 
pending upon  the  arrangement  of  the  bricks.  The 
same  amino-acids  will  give  you  different  proteins, 
depending  upon  the  arrangement  of  these  amino- 
acids.  That  is  why  the  Germans  call  the  amino- 
acids  the  Bausteine  or  building-stones. 

Not  all  proteins  contain  the  same  amino-acids. 
Some  proteins  contain  more  of  one  amino-acid 
than  another ;  others  are  deficient  in  one  or  more  of 
the  acids. 

In  order  to  build  up  that  peculiar  protein  which 
we  find  in  the  tissues,  the  tissue  protein,  the  cell 
selects  those  amino-acids  it  needs  and  discards  the 
rest. 

You  may  ask,  why  if  what  the  cell  needs  is  not 
the  protein  but  the  amino-acid,  the  diet  should  not 
rather  consist  of  amino-acids,  fats  and  carbohy- 
drates, rather  than  proteins,  fats  and  carbohy- 
drates? Unfortunately,  nature  insists  upon  sup- 
plying us  with  the  more  complicated  proteins;  just 
why  we  do  not  know.*  But  nature  has  consider- 

*  This  is  not  quite  true.  The  physical  chemist  will  tell  you  that 
proteins  are  colloids,  whereas  amino-acids  are  crystalloids,  and 
there  are  reasons  why  plant  and  animal  material  should  be  in  the 
colloidal  state. 


AMINO-ACIDS  57 

ately  supplied  us  with  a  factory,  known  as  the  di- 
gestive tract,  where  the  proteins  can  be  changed 
into  amino-acids. 

But  before  we  dismiss  the  general  metabolism  of 
proteins — the  changes  that  substances  undergo  in 
the  system — we  must  refer  to  another  topic,  be- 
cause of  its  relationship  to  the  subject  of  just  how 
much  protein  the  body  needs.  We  have  already 
seen  in  earlier  chapters  how  the  subject  of  protein 
needs  has  given  rise  to  much  discussion.  Most  of 
the  experiments  conducted  in  this  direction  have 
tended  to  point  to  an  amount  of  protein  consider- 
ably less  than  that  ordinarily  used  by  man.  But 
the  more  recent  studies  have  shown  us  that  not  all 
of  the  protein  ingested  is  utilized  by  the  cells.  As 
we  have  just  seen,  only  a  select  number  of  the 
amino-acids  formed  from  the  protein  are  taken  up 
by  the  cells  to  form  tissue  protein ;  the  rest  are  dis- 
carded. Is  it  not  therefore  necessary  to  eat  more 
protein  than  would  at  first  hand  appear,  if  only  to 
insure  an  adequate  supply  of  those  amino-acids 
needed  for  tissue  building?  Arguments  such  as 
these  have  led  to  the  revision  of  the  diets  of  our 
soldiers  in  favor  of  a  relatively  high  protein  con- 
tent. 

Why  Gelatin  Is  a  Poor  Type  of  Protein.  But 
now  it  is  time  to  turn  back  to  our  gelatin.  A  care- 
ful analysis  of  this  protein  has  shown  that  two  of 
the  commonest  amino-acids — so  common  that  they 
are  found  in  most  of  the  other  proteins — are  miss- 
ing in  gelatin.  These  amino-acids  are  known  by  the 
high  sounding  names  of  tyrosine  and  tryptophane. 


58  VITAMINES 

Might  not  these  two  amino-acids  be  essential  to 
tissue  up-building?  Might  not  the  absence  of  these 
two  amino-acids  explain  the  inferiority  of  gelatin 
to  other  proteins? 

If  such  a  view  is  sound  it  should  be  capable  of 
being  put  to  the  test  of  experiment.  And  surely 
enough,  where  gelatin  (plus  fat  plus  carbohydrate 
plus  mineral  salts,  etc.)  alone  was  found  to  be  in- 
adequate to  sustain  animals,  the  same  diet  to  which 
the  two  amino-acids  tyrosine  and  tryptophane  were 
added,  met  all  requirements. 

In  this  experiment,  based  on  the  laborious  work 
of  many  scientists  stretching  over  a  decade,  is  to  be 
found  the  key  to  much  present-day  activity  in  the 
science  of  nutrition.  It  has  led  to  an  entire  revision 
in  the  feeding  of  armies  and  nations.  This  will  be 
made  clearer  as  we  go  on. 

Though  there  are  some  eighteen  amino-acids 
known  which,  in  varying  proportions,  make  up  the 
composition  of  the  different  proteins,  only  the  in- 
fluence of  three  or  four  of  these  acids  on  the  diet 
has  so  far  been  at  all  extensively  studied.  But  a 
study  of  the  influence  of  these  three  or  four  has 
already  afforded  us  some  amazing  results. 

The  Amino-Acid  Content  of  Proteins.  Let  us 
present  the  reader  with  some  quantitative  studies. 
Turn  to  page  189  and  examine  the  percentage  of 
amino-acids  isolated  from  various  proteins. 

What  does  such  a  list  show?  Some  of  the  pro- 
teins do  not  contain  the  amino-acid  glycocoll ; 
others  do  not  contain  tryptophane ;  still  others  are 
deficient  in  lysine  and  cystine.  ( Strictly  speaking, 


AMINO-ACIDS  59 

it  is  incorrect  to  speak  of  a  protein  as  "containing" 
such  and  such  amino-acids.  These  amino-acids  be- 
come evident  only  after  the  protein  has  been  decom- 
posed.) To  what  extent  are  these  amino-acids 
needed  by  the  organism,  and  what  happens  if  the 
only  source  of  protein  in  the  diet  is  deficient  in  one 
or  more  of  these  amino-acids? 

The  answer  has  already  been  supplied  for  gela- 
tin. Unless  the  missing  amino-acid  tryptophane 
(and  tyrosine)  is  added,  death  occurs. 

Now  suppose  we  arrange  a  diet  in  such  a  way  as 
to  vary  from  time  to  time  the  protein  it  may  con- 
tain. Let  us  assume  that  we  have  fixed  upon  the 
type  and  amount  each  of  fat,  carbohydrate,  mineral 
salts ;  and  that  we  allow  plenty  of  water  and  plenty 
of  air ;  and  that  we  adhere  to  such  a  diet  throughout 
the  series  of  trials.  From  time  to  time,  however, 
we  shall  replace  one  protein,  say  casein,  with 
another,  say  zein.  If  the  substitution  of  zein  for 
casein  causes  ill-effects,  we  may  reasonably  assume 
that  this  is  due  to  the  absence  of  one  or  more  amino- 
acids  from  the  diet.  Suppose  we  add  one  or  more 
of  such  amino-acids  to  this  otherwise  deficient  diet 
and  the  animals  that  we  experiment  with  begin  to 
thrive  again ;  are  we  not  justified  in  concluding  that 
our  assumption  was  correct? 

This,  in  fact,  is  the  procedure  that  Professor 
Hopkins  of  Cambridge,  Dr.  Osborne  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Experimental  Station  and  Professor  Mendel 
of  Yale  have  adopted.  The  last  two  investigators 
in  particular,  who  have  done  all  their  work  jointly, 
have  enriched  this  phase  of  the  science  with  much 


60  VITAMINES 

of  value.  Let  us  follow  Osborne  and  Mendel  in 
their  path. 

Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel's  Experiments.  They 
selected  white  rats  for  their  experiments,  for  a  num- 
ber of  reasons.  Eats  are  small,  easy  to  handle  and 
multiply  rapidly.  They  usually  live  not  more  than 
three  years  and  "280  days  suffices  to  complete  the 
entire  period  from  growth  to  maturity";  which 
means  that  several  life  cycles  can  be  watched.  Not 
only  does  the  rat  come  under  observation  during  a 
period  which  would  correspond  to  about  60  years 
in  the  life  of  man,  but  the  effects  of  the  diet  on  the 
offspring  may  also  be  noted.  In  fact,  several  gen- 
erations are  included  in  such  a  survey. 

Now  what  was  to  constitute  health  and  what  ill- 
health?  In  the  infant  a  steady  increase  in  weight  is 
taken  as  the  best  criterion  of  normal  development. 
Of  course  we  cannot  always  be  sure  that  an  increase 
in  weight  means  just  this,  but  in  a  large  percentage 
of  cases  it  does;  and  it  becomes  a  simple  way  we 
have  of  measuring  progress.  A  certain  sign  of  the 
sick  man  returning  to  a  state  of  normality  is  when 
he  gains  weight.  We  say  he  "puts  on  flesh."  Under 
normal  conditions  the  adult  neither  gains  nor  loses. 

How  to  "Plot"  Curves.  Drs.  Osborne  and  Men- 
del adopted  this  standard  of  measuring  progress  by 
noting  the  increase  in  weight  of  their  rats. 

To  present  their  results  graphically  in  a  way  that 
a  mass  of  figures  never  could,  they  plotted  curves  in 
much  the  way  that  nurses  in  hospitals  and  the 
"modern"  mother  do  when  they  wish  to  keep  an 
easily  presentable  record  of  their  infants'  gain  in 


AMINO-ACIDS  61 

weight  from  week  to  week.  Such  a  nurse  or  mother 
first  records  in  her  notebook  the  various  dates  and 
corresponding  weights  of  the  child.  Thus,  to  take 
an  example,  we  may  find  some  such  record  as  this : 

Week  Weight 

At  birth  6  pounds    1  ounce 

At  the  end  of  the  first  week  6  "         4  ounces 

At  the  end  of  two  weeks  6  "       10      " 

At  the  end  of  three  weeks  6  "       15      " 

At  the  end  of  four  weeks  7  "         4      " 

At  the  end  of  five  weeks  7  "       13      " 

and  so  on.  Now  she  takes  her  square-lined  paper 
and  marks  off  suitable  horizontal  spaces  to  indicate 
time  and  vertical  spaces  to  indicate  weight.  A  con- 
venient way  she  finds  is  to  call  every  seven  squares 
in  a  horizontal  direction  one  week  (7  days),  the 
number  "1"  at  the  end  of  the  first  seven  squares  in- 
dicating one  week,  "2"  at  the  end  of  the  first  four- 
teen squares  indicating  two  weeks,  and  so  on.  Simi- 
larly along  the  vertical  line,  since  she  deals  with 
pounds  and  ounces,  she  selects  sixteen  squares  to 
represent  one  pound ;  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  first 
sixteen  squares  she  puts  the  figure  "1,"  represent- 
ing one  pound ;  at  the  end  of  thirty-two  squares  she 
puts  "2,"  representing  two  pounds;  and  so  on. 

At  birth  (zero  week)  the  child  weighed  6  pounds 
1  ounce.  You  travel  vertically  until  you  reach  the 
figure  6  and  then  you  go  one  square  more.  You 
make  a  cross  at  that  point.  At  the  end  of  the  first 
week  the  child  weighs  6  pounds  4  ounces.  You 


VITAMINES 


FIGURE  l.; — GROWTH  OF  AN  INFANT 

For  an  explanation  of  this  chart,  see  page  60 
of  text. 


Pounds 


64  VITAMINES 

travel  horizontally  until  you  reach  "1"  (one  week) 
and  vertically  until  you  reach  "6,"  and  then  go  four 
squares  above  that  (to  represent  4  ounces).  You 
make  another  cross  here.  And  you  continue  that 
from  week  to  week.  Then  you  draw  your  line 
through  the  intersection  of  your  crosses  and  you 
get  a  curve  such  as  is  shown  in  figure  1. 

What  do  you  gather  from  such  a  chart?  So  long 
as  the  curve  is  up  an  incline,  so  long  as  you  are 
traveling  up-hill,  the  child  shows  a  constant  in- 
crease in  weight,  and  therefore  represents  a  prob- 
able normal  development.  The  steeper  the  incline 
the  more  rapid  the  increase  in  weight.  But  where 
the  slope  reverses  and  goes  down,  instead  of  up- 
hill, the  curve  represents  a  loss  in  weight  and  the 
child  is  therefore  not  developing  as  well  as  it  should 
be. 

From  the  curve  under  discussion  (figure  1)  you 
will  notice  that  aside  from  a  loss  in  weight  during 
the  first  few  days  (a  regular  occurrence) ,  the  curve 
slopes  steadily  in  an  up  direction  until  the  tenth 
week  is  reached.  Then  there  is  a  decline  with  the 
eleventh  week.  The  doctor  diagnosed  the  child's 
loss  of  weight  as  probably  being  due  to  insufficient 
nourishment,  or  perhaps  to  unwholesome  nourish- 
ment,— because  the  mother  was  nervous.  He  sug- 
gested a  supplementary  milk  diet.  Notice  how 
from  the  thirteenth  week  the  curve  starts  up-hill 
again. 

If  I  have  dwelt  for  some  time  on  this  simple 
example,  it  is  because  once  the  reader  understands 
the  significance  of  such  a  curve  as  is  represented  in 


AMINO-ACIDS  65 

figure  1,  he  will  have  no  difficulty  whatsoever  in 
understanding  the  subsequent  charts.  And  as  has 
already  been  stated,  this  graphical  method  of  repre- 
sentation has  the  advantage  over  mere  figures  in 
that  you  can  take  in  an  entire  experiment  at  a 
glance. 

Animal  and  Vegetable  Proteins  Compared.  Now 
turn  your  attention  to  chart  2.  A  diet  consisting 
of  the  protein  casein*  (found  in  milk)  which,  as 
you  may  gather  from  the  table  in  the  Appendix, 
does  not  contain  the  amino-acid  glycocoll,  caused 
rats  to  grow  and  gain  in  weight ;  for  notice  the  in- 
cline of  the  curve  marked  "casein."  Evidently  gly- 
cocoll is  not  indispensable.  When  the  protein  glia- 
din  (derived  from  w^heat  or  rye)  is  substituted  for 
casein,  the  incline  of  the  curve  is  nowhere  near  as 
sharp.  -The  increase  in  weight  is  very,  very  gradual. 
Gliadin,  as  the  table  shows,  is  deficient  in  the 
amino-acid  lysine,  and  the  failure  to  gain  so  rapidly 
may  be  due  to  this  deficiency. 

The  foods  other  than  protein  that  Drs.  Osborne 
and  Mendel  used  were  starch,  sugar,  lard,  agar 
and  inorganic  salts.  The  agar  was  added  "to  form 
an  indigestible  intestinal  'roughage/  "  and  the  in- 
organic salts  were  given  either  as  a  mixture  of  the 
pure  inorganic  salts,  or  in  the  form  of  "protein- 
free  milk" — a  product  representing  the  milk  from 
which  fat  and  protein  have  been  removed.  In  their 

*  And,  of  course,  fat,  carbohydrate,  etc.  Please  remember  that 
in  all  the  examples  here  given,  the  one  constituent  of  the  diet  that 
varies  is  the  protein;  the  other  constituents  are  not  changed  dur- 
ing such  experiments,  though  they  are  always  added  in  proportions 
that  experience  has  taught  to  be  beneficial. 


66  VITAMINES 


FIGURE  2. — AMINO- ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 

Showing  typical  curves  of  growth  of  rats  main- 
tained on  diets  containing  a  single  protein.  On  the 
casein  food  (devoid  of  glycocoll)  satisfactory 
growth  is  obtained;  on  the  gliadin  food  (deficient 
in  lysine)  little  more  than  maintenance  of  body 
weight  is  possible;  on  the  zein  food  (devoid  of 
glycocoll,  lysine  and  tryptophane)  even  mainte- 
nance of  body  weight  is  impossible. 

Osborne  and  Mendel:  J.  A.  M.  A..,  1915. 


68  VITAMINES 

subsequent  vitamine  studies  these  investigators 
made  frequent  use  of  this  "protein-free  milk." 

In  answer  to  the  criticism  that  "protein-free 
milk"  is  not  free  from  nitrogen  compounds,  and 
"therefore  makes  a  comparison  of  the  biological 
value  of  different  proteins"  difficult,  Prof.  Mendel 
writes:  ".  .  .  It  is  true  that  protein-free  milk 
which  we  used  in  our  earlier  experiments  contained 
a  certain  modicum  of  nitrogenous  matter — a  fact 
which  we  ourselves  pointed  out.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  this  may  have  altered  the  numerical  values  in 
the  comparisons  which  we  made  earlier  between  the 
different  proteins.  In  recent  years  we  have  no 
longer  used  this  product.  In  fact  at  the  present  time 
whenever  it  is  desired  to  compare  protein  values 
we  employ  a  yeast  concentrate  which  gives  no 
biuret  reaction  [the  'biuret'  test  is  one  used  to  de- 
tect proteins] .  I  believe  that  the  fundamental  con- 
ceptions regarding  the  importance  of  certain  amino- 
acids  is  unaltered  by  any  of  the  comments  which 
have  been  made." 

Now  notice  the  interesting  situation  that  arises 
when  zein  (derived  from  maize)  becomes  the  sole 
source  of  protein.  At  first  the  rats  under  examina- 
tion were  given  a  mixed  food  containing  several  dif- 
ferent proteins,  and  the  animals  thrived  splendidly. 
Then  after  about  two  weeks  the  diet  was  so  changed 
as  to  replace  the  mixed  proteins  with  the  single 
protein  zein.  See  how  the  curve  suddenly  swerves. 
It  actually  goes  down-hill.  This  down-hill  slope  of 
course  indicates  that  the  animals  are  losing  weight 
and  are  on  the  decline;  for  remember  that  we  are 


AMINO-ACIDS  69 

not  dealing  with  rats  that  have  reached  maturity 
and  that  are  merely  too  fat,  but  young  rats  in  the 
growing  stage.  If  rats  in  the  growing  stage  lose 
weight,  particularly  if  the  loss  continues  over  many 
weeks,  then  something  is  surely  the  matter — just  as 
under  similar  conditions  all  would  not  be  well  with 
an  infant. 

Zein  is  devoid  of  the  amino-acids  glycocoll,  lysine 
and  tryptophane.  The  experiments  with  the  milk 
protein,  casein,  have  proved  that  glycocoll  is  not 
essential;  for  though  casein  contains  no  glycocoll, 
the  animals  thrived.  Where  lysine  alone  is  defi- 
cient in  the  protein  molecule  there  is  more  or  less 
maintenance;  that  is,  neither  a  decided  increase 
nor  decrease  in  weight  (see  the  curve  marked  glia- 
din)  ;  hence  the  decided  downward  slope  of  the 
curve  in  the  case  of  zein  would  lead  to  the  belief 
that  the  indications  of  rapid  decline  are  probably 
due  to  the  absence  of  the  amino-acid  tryptophane 
(and  perhaps  also  cystin.  See  later  experiments). 

The  three  experiments  just  described  are  ex- 
tremely suggestive,  for  they  point  to  the  indispensa- 
bility  of  the  amino-acids  lysine  and  tryptophane. 
The  indications  are  that  no  matter  how  many  calo- 
ries a  diet  yields,  no  matter  how  well  the  diet  is  dis- 
tributed among  the  foodstuffs,  no  matter  how  much 
protein  is  given,  if  the  protein  part  of  the  diet  is 
deficient  in  the  amino-acids  lysine  and  tryptophane, 
life  is  impossible. 

To  prove  this  still  further,  Drs.  Osborne  and 
Mendel  fed  rats  with  a  diet  in  which  the  protein 
consisted  of  zein  only.  Note  the  loss  in  weight 


70  VITAMINES 


3. — AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 

Showing  the  effect  of  the  amino-acids  trypto- 
phane  and  lysine  to  zein  which  fails  to  yield  them. 
With  zein  alone  there  is  nutritive  decline.  The 
addition  of  tryptophane  permits  maintenance  but 
not  growth.  The  addition  of  tryptophane  and 
lysine  enables  the  animals  to  make  considerable 
growth. 

Osborne  and  Mendel:  J.  A.  M.  A.,  1915. 


Grams 
o         o 


g       I         i         S 


VK 


72  VITAMINES 


FIGURE  4. — AMINO-ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 

Showing  the  favorable  effect  on  growth  by  sup- 
plementing a  protein  (zein)  incapable  of  maintain- 
ing animals  when  it  is  the  sole  protein  furnished  in 
the  diet  with  a  more  "perfect"  protein  (lactalbu- 
min).  The  proportion  of  the  lactalbumin  used— 
4.5  per  cent — was  of  itself  insufficient  to  promote 
growth  well.  It  evidently  furnished  the  amino-acid 
groups  lacking  in  the  zein. 

Osborne  and  Mendel:  J.  A.  M.  A.,  1915. 


300 


22.0 
ZOO 

160 


< 


tQQ 


f 


Days 


74  VITAMINES 

(chart  3,  the  first  portion  of  curve  B).  After  sev- 
eral weeks  the  amino-acids  lysine  and  tryptophane 
were  added  to  the  diet.  See  how  the  curve  im- 
mediately shoots  upwards.  When  tryptophane 
alone  is  added  to  the  zein  the  rats  neither  gain  nor 
lose  in  weight  (chart  3,  first  part  of  curve  A)  ;  upon 
the  further  addition  of  lysine  a  gain  in  weight  is 
noted. 

Enough  now  has  been  said  regarding  these  charts 
so  that  charts  4  and  5  and  6  become  self-explana- 
tory. Chart  4  is  of  interest  because  it  points  to 
the  advantage  of  a  diet  consisting  of  mixed  proteins 
rather  than  a  single  protein;  and  our  diets  do 
happen  to  include  mixed  proteins.  Charts  5  and 
6  emphasize  the  importance  of  appreciable  amounts 
of  certain  amino-acids,  such  as  cystine  (chart  5) 
and  lysine  (chart  6). 

So  far  only  a  few  of  the  amino-acids  have  been 
tested;  but  this  is  not  surprising,  for  the  experi- 
mental details  of  such  a  research  often  become  be- 
wildering even  to  the  professional  man.  What  is 
glibly  dismissed  in  a  sentence  or  two  in  some  re- 
port, often  represents  weeks  of  painstaking  labor. 
But  the  study  of  even  these  few  amino-acids  has 
made  it  evident  that  henceforth  instead  of  speak- 
ing of  the  protein  content  of  foods,  we  shall  have 
to  discuss  them  in  terms  of  their  amino-acid  con- 
tent. 

So  long  as  man  eats  food  in  variety  and  abun- 
dance, the  fear  of  malnutrition  is  slight.  Without 
really  knowing  the  precise  content  of  his  food,  he 
manages  to  get  what  he  needs.  But  the  days  of 


AMINO-ACIDS  75 

abundance  for  most  of  us  are  fast  coming  to  an 
end.  In  certain  portions  of  the  hemisphere  even 
mere  subsistence  is  beset  with  great  difficulty.  If 
in  the  place  of  semi-guesswork  we  can  substitute 
exact  knowledge;  if  we  can  tell  the  people,  Take 
such  and  such  foods  because  they  contain  such  and 
such  proteins,  which  in  turn  are  rich  in  such  and 
such  ammo-acids  essential  to  life,  then  we  have 
contributed  very  definitely  to  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind. 

The  Feeding  of  Farm  Animals.  Of  equal  and 
perhaps  even  more  immediate  consequence  are 
these  studies  to  animal  production  in  agriculture. 
Let  me  quote  Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel:  "Corn 
forms  the  cheapest  basis  for  the  feeding  of  farm 
animals  in  food  production.  Inasmuch  as  the  rate 
of  growth  is  limited  by  hereditary  rather  than 
nutritive  conditions,  it  is  futile  to  furnish  more 
energy,  and  particularly  more  protein,  than  is  es- 
sential for  normal  development.  An  inadequate 
but  cheap  protein  can  be  supplemented  advanta- 
geously by  one  which  supplies  the  needed  factors, 
that  is,  amino-acids.  The  relative  economy  of  these 
additions  of  supplementary  proteins  to  an  efficient 
but  inexpensive  ration  depends  not  only  on  their 
quantity  but  likewise  on  their  amino-acid  make-up. 
A  very  small  addition  of  a  protein  like  lactalbumin 
may  be  far  more  advantageous,  when  the  cost  per 
unit  of  gain  is  considered,  than  larger  amounts  of 
cheaper  proteins  which  supplement  less  perfectly 
the  amino-acid  deficiency  of  the  standard  diet.  It 
is  perhaps  not  too  Utopian  to  expect  that  the  day 


76  VITAMINES 


FIGURE  5.— AMINO- ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 

When  18  per  cent  of  casein  (as  the  sole  protein) 
is  present  in  the  diet,  satisfactory  growth  is  ob- 
tained. With  9  per  cent  of  casein  much  less  rapid 
growth  ensues.  That  the  insufficiency  of  the 
smaller  amounts  of  casein  is  essentially  due  to  its 
relative  deficiency  in  cystine-yielding  groups  is 
shown  by  the  marked  accelerating  influence  on 
growth  brought  about  by  the  addition  of  cystine  to 
the  food  containing  9  per  cent  casein. 

Osborne  and  Mendel:  J.  A.  M.  A.,  1915. 


78  VITAMINES 


FIGURE  6. — AMINO- ACIDS  AND  GROWTH 

The  curve  shows  the  satisfactory  growth  ob- 
tained when  18  per  cent  of  edestin  was  present  in 
the  diet  as  the  sole  protein.  With  a  smaller  amount 
of  edestin — 9  per  cent — much  less  rapid  growth 
ensued.  That  the  insufficiency  of  the  smaller 
amount  of  edestin  is  essentially  due  to  its  relative 
deficiency  in  lysine-yielding  groups  is  suggested 
by  the  marked  accelerating  influence  on  growth 
brought  about  by  the  addition  of  the  ammo-acid 
lysin  to  the  food  containing  9  per  cent  of  edestin 
and  the  less  rapid  growth  when  the  additional 
lysine  was  withdrawn  from  the  diet. 

Osborne  and  Mendel:  J.  A.  M.  A.,  1915. 


80  VITAMINES 

may  come  when  ammo-acid  concentrates  may  serve 
to  render  perfect  the  mixtures  of  proteins  in  a  fod- 
der like  maize  or  its  commercial  by-products." 

The  Biological  Value  of  Various  Proteins.  The 
following  among  the  proteins  so  far  tried,  when 
used  in  suitable  concentration,  have  induced  normal 
growth  in  rats.  Evidently  all  the  essential  amino- 
acids  in  suitable  proportions  are  present  in  these 
proteins : 

Proteins  of  animal  origin.  Casein  (found  in 
milk)  ;  lactalbumin  (milk)  ;  ovalbumin  (hen's 
egg);  ovovitellin  (hen's  egg).  Proteins  of  vege- 
table origin.  Edestin  (hemp-seed)  ;  globulin 
(squash-seed)  ;  excelsin  (Brazil-nut)  ;  glutelin 
(maize)  ;  globulin  (cotton-seed)  ;  glutenin  (wheat)  ; 
glycinin  (soy-bean)  ;  cannabib  (hemp-seed). 

Other  proteins  that  have  failed  to  induce  growth 
are  legumenin  (soy-bean)  ;  vignin  (vetch)  ;  gliadin 
(wheat  or  rye)  ;  legumin  (pea)  ;  legumin  (vetch)  ; 
hordein  (barley)  ;  conglutin  (blue  or  yellow 
lupin)  ;  gelatin  (horn)  ;  zein  (maize)  ;  and  phaseo- 
lin  (white  kidney  bean). 

All  of  the  foodstuffs  enumerated — milk,  egg, 
wheat,  etc. — always  contain  more  than  one  of  the 
proteins.  So  long  as  we  eat  mixtures  of  proteins 
we  can  know  little  of  the  biological  value  of  each 
protein,  except  in  rare  instances,  as  in  gelatin, 
which  happens  to  be  a  homogeneous  substance. 
Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel  in  the  course  of  their 
various  experiments  have  first  very  carefully  iso- 
lated the  various  proteins  from  the  foods. 

Stunting.    In  connection  with  Drs.  Osborne  and 


AMINO-ACIDS  81 

Mendel's  work,  we  may  note  one  other  experiment 
of  theirs,  because  it  touches  upon  the  nature  of 
growth.  A  number  of  rats  were  given  a  diet  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  prevent  any  appreciable  gain 
or  loss  of  weight  (see  chart  3,  page  71,  the  first  part 
of  curve  A) .  This  "maintenance"  diet  was  kept  up 
for  550  days.  At  the  end  of  this  period  the  diet  was 
so  changed  as  to  include  all  the  necessary  ammo- 
acids;  in  other  words,  this  second  diet  was  a 
"growth  diet."  The  rats  immediately  began  to  grow 
and  gain  in  weight.  The  amazing  feature  of  this 
experiment  is  that  these  rats  began  to  grow  250 
days  after  they  would  normally  have  reached  ma- 
turity; for  under  normal  conditions  these  same  rats 
usually  reach  maturity  at  the  end  of  300  days.  It 
is  as  if  a  boy  had  stopped  growing  when  he  was  ten 
years  old,  and  then  by  some  freak  would  not  con- 
tinue his  growth  until  he  had  reached  his  thirtieth 
year.* 

Summary.  To  summarize  the  essential  points 
that  have  been  discussed  in  this  chapter,  we  may 
say  that — 

1.  Maintenance     (neither    gain    nor    loss    in 
weight)    and  growth  both  require  a  complex  of 
ammo-acids.    Maintenance  requires,  among  others, 
the  amino-acid   tryptophane  and   probably   some 
lysine;  growth,  that  of  lysine,  and,  to  a  lesser  ex- 
tent, cystine. 

2.  Proteins    cannot    be    used    interchangeably 

*I  must,  however,  add  that  recent  experiments  by  Dr.  Jackson 
do  not  wholly  confirm  Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel's  conclusions. 
While  growth  can  be  resumed  after  prolonged  stunting,  such 
growth  is  not  as  rapid  as  under  normal  conditions. 


82  VITAMINES 

with  equal  nutritive  value.  Their  value  to  the  body 
depends  upon  the  kind  and  quantity  of  the  individ- 
ual amino-acids  they  contain.  Because  of  this  fact 
the  problem  of  protein  minimum  resolves  itself  in- 
to a  question  of  amino-acid  minimum. 

3.  Stunting,  whether  by  underfeeding  in  energy 
value  of  food  supplied,  by  too  low  protein  intake,  or 
by  absence  of  amino-aeids  necessary  for  growth, 
does  not  affect  the  inherent  growth  impulse. 

It  should  be  emphasized  that  these  results  have 
been  reached  by  experiments  on  rats.  How  many 
such  observations  can  be  applied  to  man  and  his 
food  cannot  be  stated  with  certainty;  but  if  evi- 
dence were  wanting  that  most  of  them  are  appli- 
cable, we  need  only  point  to  the  pitiable  condition 
of  many  of  the  people  in  Europe.  This  condition  is 
largely  the  result  of  poor  nutrition  or  underfeeding. 
In  either  case  amino-acids  play  an  extremely  im- 
portant part.  So  do  vitamines.  But  of  that  more 
anon. 


CHAPTER  VII 

GLYCOGEN  OR  ANIMAL  STARCH 

The  value  of  a  protein  we  have  seen  is  specified 
only  when  stated  in  terms  of  its  amino-acid  content. 
The  protein  itself  is  complex  in  chemical  structure, 
but  the  units  out  of  which  it  is  built,  the  amino- 
acids,  are  relatively  simple ;  and  it  is  the  latter  that 
the  body  absorbs  and  assimilates. 

The  question  now  arises,  Is  what  we  have  found 
for  protein  also  true  for  carbohydrates  and  fats? 
Are  these  two  substances  also  chemically  complex, 
and  is  it  probable  that  the  body  cannot  absorb  these 
substances  as  such,  but  rather  as  simpler  units,  the 
"building  stones,"  out  of  which  the  more  compli- 
cated material  is  synthesized?  Have  we,  in  other 
words,  a  something  which  is  related  to  carbohy- 
drate and  another  something  which  is  reiated  to  fat 
in  the  way  the  amino-acid  is  related  to  protein? 

Carbohydrates.  Let  us  deal  with  the  carbohy- 
drates first.  They  are  chemically  a  much  simpler 
variety  of  substance  than  the  proteins.  Some  of 
them,  such  as  starch  and  cane  sugar,  are,  how- 
ever, still  too  complicated  to  be  absorbed  by  the 
body  without  preliminary  simplification.  Others, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  absorbed  without  any 

83 


84  VITAMINES 

change.  Among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  glu- 
cose and  fruit  sugar. 

The  Three  Simple  Carbohydrates.  Now  no  mat- 
ter what  carbohydrate  we  eat,  provided  it  is  di- 
gestible— cellulose  is  an  example  of  a  carbohydrate 
which  is  not — and  provided  it  needs  further  simpli- 
fication before  absorption,  the  juices  in  the  digest- 
ive tract  will  always  change  it  to  one  of  three 
simple  substances.  Two  of  them  have  already  been 
mentioned — glucose  and  fruit  sugar.  The  third, 
galactose,  is  a  product  derived  almost  exclusively 
from  milk  sugar. 

All  carbohydrates  then  are  changed,  before  ab- 
sorption, to  one  or  more  of  three  substances:  glu- 
cose, fruit  sugar  and  galactose.*  Here  you  see  some 
analogy  between  these  three  and  the  ammo-acids. 
But  remember  that  we  have  eighteen  ammo-acids 
derived  from  proteins,  in  contradistinction  to  three 
"simple  sugars"  derived  from  complex  carbohy- 
drates; which  immediately  conveys  an  idea  of  the 
greater  complexity  of  the  proteins. 

But  if  the  three  simple  sugars  bear  some  resem- 
blance to  the  amino-acids,  their  behavior  subsequent 
to  absorption  shows  no  such  resemblance.  You  will 
remember  that  the  amino-acids  are  taken  up  by  the 
blood  stream  and  conveyed  to  the  various  cells. 
There  the  cells  utilize  their  property  of  selective 
action  by  selecting  the  amino-acids  they  need  for 

*  Mannose  and  sugars  known  as  the  pentoses  are  sometimes  pres- 
ent, but  the  occasions  are  rare.  The  pentoses  are  more  abundant 
in  the  plant  kingdom. 


GLYCOGEN  OR  ANIMAL  STARCH     85 

tissue  up-building  and  repair,  discarding  the  re- 
mainder.* 

Glycogen.  The  three  simple  sugars,  on  the  other 
hand,  immediately  proceed  to  the  liver  as  soon  as 
they  are  absorbed  by  the  blood.  There  in  some 
unknown  way  they  are  all  converted  to  one  sub- 
stance, glycogen  or  animal  starch  (which  also  be- 
longs to  the  class  of  carbohydrates).  All  carbo- 
hydrate food  ultimately  finds  its  way  to  the  liver 
where  it  is  stored  as  glycogen.  Then  whenever  the 
body  needs  to  expend  energy,  the  glycogen  reserve 
is  immediately  called  into  play.  Through  another 
mysterious  process,  the  glycogen  is  converted  back 
to  glucose — but  to  glucose  exclusively — which  in 
turn  is  ultimately  broken  down  to  carbon  dioxide 
and  water,  at  the  same  time  liberating  energy  in 
the  form  of  heat.  This  conversion  of  glucose  into 
carbon  dioxide  and  water  is  a  "burning"  or  "oxi- 
dation" process  brought  about  by  the  cells.  This 
process,  like  the  formation  of  glycogen  and  the  con- 
version of  the  glycogen  to  glucose,  is  still  very  im- 
perfectly understood. 

The  value  of  a  protein  must  be  judged  by  the 
value  of  its  structural  units,  the  amino-acids ;  is  the 
value  of  a  carbohydrate  to  be  judged  by  its  struc- 
tural units,  glucose,  fruit  sugar  and  galactose?  Is 
one  of  them  more  essential  than  another?  Among 
amino-acids  we  have  found  lysine  and  tryptophane 

*  The  discarded  amino-acids  find  their  way  into  the  liver  where, 
through  a  process  of  ' '  de-aminization, ; '  part  of  the  amino-acidB 
are  finally  oxidized  to  carbon  dioxide  and  water,  yielding  energy, 
and  the  nitrogenous  parts  find  their  way  into  the  urine  chiefly  is* 
the  shape  of  urea. 


86  VITAMINES 

to  be  much  more  important  than  glycocoll ;  can  we 
say  for  example  that  glucose  is  more  important 
than  fruit  sugar? 

No  definite  answer  to  this  question  can  be  given ; 
and  this  despite  much  clinical  work  on  the  subject. 
But  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  phase  of  metab- 
olism has  not  received  as  exhaustive  a  test  as  pro- 
tein metabolism. 

The  Value  of  Milk  Sugar  in  Infant  Feeding. 
Still,  some  comments  are  necessary.  In  mother's 
milk  we  find  milk  sugar.  This  milk  sugar  is  found 
in  the  milk  even  though  no  such  sugar  is  included 
in  the  mother's  diet.  Evidently  then  the  milk  sugar 
is  a  product  which  the  body  can  manufacture.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  milk  is  the  best  food  for  in- 
fants. In  this  liquid  the  only  carbohydrate  present 
is  milk  sugar.  This  has  led  to  the  view  that  milk 
sugar  is  a  much  better  carbohydrate  for  infants 
than  other  carbohydrates. 

Still  another  reason  has  been  advanced  in  favor 
of  milk  sugar.  In  the  brain  tissue  are  found  a  num- 
ber of  ill-defined  substances,  called  cerebro-galacto- 
sides,  which  by  special  treatment  the  chemist  can 
decompose  into  a  number  of  substances,  one  of 
which  is  galactose  (hence  the  name  cerebro-galacto- 
sides) .  Much  of  what  we  knew  of  these  substances 
we  owe  to  Professor  Gies.  You  will  remember  that 
galactose  is  one  of  the  three  simple  substances  into 
which  all  carbohydrates  are  changed  before  absorp- 
tion. Now  it  so  happens  that  among  the  carbohy- 
drates we  eat,  milk  sugar  alone  yields  this  galactose 
when  acted  upon  by  the  juices  in  the  digestive  tract. 


GLYCOGEN  OR  ANIMAL  STARCH     87 

And  milk  sugar  is  found  in  milk.  This  has  led  some 
pediatricians  to  advocate  milk  sugar  because  of  its 
possible  function  in  the  building  up  of  brain  tissue. 
But  when  we  consider  that  galactose,  like  any  other 
sugar,  is  converted  to  animal  starch  (glycogen)  in 
the  liver,  and  that  then  the  animal  starch  becomes 
the  source  of  the  carbohydrate  supply  throughout 
the  body,  such  a  view  lacks  support. 

On  the  other  hand,  eminent  physicians  are  not 
wanting  who  are  equally  enthusiastic  exponents  of 
other  carbohydrates  in  infant  feeding.  Some  pin 
their  faith  to  cane  sugar;  others  to  maltose;  still 
other  to  starch  and  dextrin.  The  entire  subject 
needs  study  of  a  much  more  exact  nature. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SOAP  AND  GLYCERIN 

The  reader  may  wonder  from  the  heading  of  this 
chapter  what  a  cleansing  agent  and  a  source  for  ex- 
plosives have  to  do  with  the  foods  we  eat.  We  coun- 
sel patience. 

Do  you  perhaps  recall  that  story  about  the  Brit- 
ish scientists  during  the  early  days  of  the  war  when 
they  were  set  to  the  task  of  utilizing  all  waste  prod- 
ucts? One  of  these  products  that  received  their 
attention  was  the  discards  from  the  soldiers'  table ; 
these  discards  contained  fair  quantities  of  fat. 
Whereupon  our  scientists  separated  the  fat  from 
the  rest  of  the  "rubbish,"  mixed  the  fat  with  a 
suitable  alkali  such  as  lye,  boiled  the  mixture  and 
eventually  obtained  soap  and  glycerin. 

The  process  just  outlined,  whereby  some  kind  of 
fat  and  some  lye  are  heated,  is  the  principle  em- 
ployed in  the  preparation  of  soap  and  glycerin  on 
an  industrial  scale.  But  the  juices  in  the  digestive 
tract,  which  can  change  proteins  into  amino-acids 
and  the  more  complex  carbohydrates  into  a  simpler 
variety,  can  also  change  fats  into  glycerin  and  soap. 
Not  only  can  they  do  so,  but  they  do  do  so.  Our 
fats  are  never  absorbed  as  such,  just  as  our  proteins 

88 


SOAP  AND  GLYCERIN  89 

and  our  more  complex  carbohydrates  are  never  ab- 
sorbed as  such.  The  fats  are  only  absorbed  after 
they  have  first  been  simplified  by  being  changed 
into  soap,  glycerin  and  substances  very  closely 
allied,  chemically,  to  soaps — fatty  acids. 

Glycerin  is  a  very  specific  substance.  When  we 
say  glycerin  we  have  in  mind  one  definite  substance 
— just  as  definite  as  water.  But  the  words  "fatty 
acids"  and  "soaps"  are  of  vaguer  import;  they  in- 
clude a  class  of  substances,  just  as  carbohydrates 
and  proteins  do.  Among  the  fatty  acids  there  are 
but  three  that  interest  us  here,  for  they  are  the 
three  that  are  physiologically  important:  stearic, 
palmitic  and  oleic  acids.  One  or  more  of  these 
three  are  formed  (in  addition  to  glycerin)  when- 
ever the  digestive  juices  act  on  the  fat  of  our  food. 
By  an  extremely  simple  process — the  action  of 
alkali — some  of  these  fatty  acids  are  converted  into 
soaps.  The  fats,  therefore,  before  being  absorbed 
are  simplified  into  fatty  acid,  soap  and  glycerin. 
These  three  substances  are  absorbed,  and  for  some 
mysterious  reason  are  immediately  reunited  to  form 
fat,  which  is  then  stored  in  the  adipose  tissues  until 
the  body  has  need  of  this  source  of  energy. 

Which  among  the  structural  units  in  fats  is  the 
most  essential  to  maintenance  and  growth?  Is 
glycerin  more  important  than  palmitic  acid? 

To  form  fat  in  the  body  both  glycerin  and  fatty 
acid  are  necessary.  The  question  that  remains  to 
be  answered  is,  which  of  the  three  common  fatty 
acids  is  the  most  important?  This  needs  further 
study. 


90  VITAMINES 

Are  Fats  Indispensable?  In  the  meantime, 
another  question  presents  itself.  Are  fats  them- 
selves absolutely  indispensable  in  the  diet? 

We  have  pointed  out  in  previous  chapters  that 
fats  function  as  the  fuel  reserve  of  the  body;  first 
the  carbohydrates  are  utilized,  and  then,  when  these 
are  all  exhausted,  the  fats  are  put  to  work.  If  we 
eat  more  carbohydrate  than  is  needed  for  im- 
mediate use,  the  extra  supply  is  converted  into  fat 
and  stored  as  such. 

But  now  would  anything  happen  if  we  were  to 
exclude  fat  from  the  diet?  This  experiment  has 
never  been  carried  out  very  successfully,  for  the 
reason  that  the  means  available  to  eliminate  all  fat 
particles  from  the  diet  remove  substances  other 
than  fat.  It  is  very  much  like  trying  to  extract 
sugar  from  a  mixture  of  sugar,  salt  and  water.  If 
water  is  the  only  suitable  solvent  you  can  employ, 
shaking  the  mixture  with  water  will  cause  not  only 
the  sugar  to  go  into  solution,  but  also  the  salt. 

Just  how  necessary  the  true  fats  are  in  the  diet 
yet  remains  to  be  determined;*  and  until  this  is 
done  we  need  trouble  little  about  structural  units 
in  the  fat  molecule. 

In  the  meantime,  the  attempt  to  extract  fat  from 
food  by  treating  the  food  with  a  suitable  solvent 
has  led  to  unexpected  results  (see  next  chapter).** 

*  Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel  have  begun  investigations  in  this 
direction. 

**  Closely  associated  with  fat  are  a  group  of  substances  called 
lipoids  that  are  found  in  every  living  cell,  and  whose  function  is 
still  largely  a  mystery. 


CHAPTER  IX 

VITAMINES 

Milk,  an  excellent  food  for  infants  and  growing 
animals,  contains  protein  (casein),  fat,  carbohy- 
drate (milk  sugar)  and  inorganic  salts.  The  pro- 
tein if  given  in  sufficient  quantity  contains  all  the 
needed  amino-acids.  Suppose  that  instead  of  sup- 
plying our  animals  with  milk  we  feed  them  with 
the  isolated  constituents  of  milk,  in  quantity  suffi- 
cient to  supply  fuel  needs.  We  give  our  animals 
an  excellent  protein,  plenty  of  fat  and  carbohydrate 
to  supply  energy  needs,  and  all  the  mineral  salts 
necessary.  From  what  has  been  said  so  far,  such 
a  diet  should  comply  with  all  requirements. 

So  indeed  thought  most  scientists  until  Professor 
Hopkins  of  Cambridge  disproved  it.* 

Professor  Hopkins  took  two  sets  of  rats — which 
we  shall  call  A  and  B — in  about  the  same  stage  of 
development,  and  of  about  the  same  weight,  and 
fed  A  with  the  isolated  constituents  similar  to 
those  that  can  be  obtained  from  milk  (protein,  fat, 

*  Dr.  Funk  calls  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  as  early  as  1881 — 
some  years  before  Hopkins'  experiments — Dr.  Lunin  made  the 
statement  that  "  substances  other  than  casein,  fat,  milk  sugar 
and  salts  are  indispensable "  (Zeitschrift  fur  physiologische  Chem<ie, 
volume  5,  page  31,  1881), 

91 


92  VITAMINES 


FIGURE  7. — ABSENCE  OF  VITAMINES 

PROFESSOR  HOPKINS'  CLASSICAL  EXPERIMENT 

Lower  Curve  (as  far  as  the  18th  day) — Eight 
male  rats  on  "synthetic"  diet  of  protein,  carbohy- 
drate, lard  and  mineral  salts. 

Upper  Curve — Eight  similar  rats  taking,  in  addi- 
tion, 2  cubic  centimeters  (two  five-hundredths  of  a 
pint)  of  milk  per  day. 

On  the  18th  day,  marked  by  vertical  dotted  line, 
the  addition  of  milk  was  changed  from  one  set  to 
another. 

B&yliss:  Principles  of  General  Physiology. 


80 


60 


1 Q- 


.25 


50 


94  VITAMINES 

sugar  and  mineral  salts),*  and  B  with  the  same 
substances  plus  a  minute  quantity  of  fresh  milk.** 
The  rats  belonging  to  series  A  lost  weight  and 
showed  decided  pathological  symptoms;  those  be- 
longing to  series  B  steadily  gained  in  weight.  On 
the  eighteenth  day  the  diets  were  reversed,  so  that 
now  A  was  getting  the  little  extra  milk  and  B  had 
theirs  cut  out.  Almost  immediately  A  began  to 
gain  in  weight  and  B  to  lose  in  weight  (see  figure 

7). 

Let  us  examine  the  results  of  this  amazing  ex- 
periment. The  isolated  foodstuffs  yielded  energy 
in  quantity  more  than  necessary  to  satisfy  all  calo- 
rific requirements,  The  protein  was  rich  in  the 
necessary  amino-acids.  The  mineral  salts  were  not 
only  abundant  but  various  in  kind.  The  fat  and 
carbohydrate  were  there  too.  Yet  all  this  was  of 
no  avail.  The  animals  lost  weight  almost  as  rap- 
idly as  if  they  had  been  starved.  When,  however, 
a  minute  quantity  of  fresh  milk  was  added — about 
two  five-hundredths  of  a  pint  per  day — the  animals 
thrived. 

The  amount  of  milk  added  was  so  small  that  it 
could  not  have  added  anything  material  to  the  ener- 
gy value  of  the  food.  Besides,  the  energy  value  of 
the  foodstuffs  was  more  than  sufficient.  And  in  so 
far  as  the  most  careful  chemical  analysis  could 
show,  the  whole  milk  added  was  itself  composed  of 

*The  fat  used  was  not  milk  fat  but  lard.  This,  as  will  be 
brought  out  presently,  is  most  important. 

**  Plenty  of  water  is  always  included  in  such  studies. 


VITAMINES  95 

nothing  but  protein,  fat,  carbohydrate  and  mineral 
salts,  with  the  rest  of  it  very  little  more  than  plain 
water.  In  other  words,  the  chemical  composition 
of  the  whole  milk  did  not  materially  differ  from 
the  chemical  composition  of  the  constituents  iso- 
lated from  milk.  Was  the  difference  due  to  some- 
thing in  the  milk  other  than  fat,  protein,  carbo- 
hydrate and  mineral  salts?  If  so,  this  "something" 
must  be  present  in  exceedingly  small  quantities, 
since  the  addition  of  two  five-hundredths  of  a  pint 
of  whole  milk  was  sufficient  to  exhibit  such  striking 
effects. 

Startling  as  this  experiment  seems,  the  result 
was  not  altogether  unexpected  by  the  scientist. 
He  had  already  acquainted  himself  with  a  number 
of  substances,  present  in  minute  quantities  in  the 
body,  the  absence  of  which  caused  profound  dis- 
turbances to  the  system.  Thus  adrenalin,  or  as  it 
is  sometimes  called  epinephrin,  is  present  in  the 
blood  to  the  extent  of  one  part  in  one  hundred  mil- 
lion ;  yet  it  is  said  to  be  essential  to  life.  The  very 
ferments  or  enzymes  that  simplify  our  food  in  the 
digestive  tract  so  as  to  prepare  it  for  absorption, 
are  present  in  exceedingly  minute  quantities;  yet 
they  are  essential.  If,  then,  there  is  some  substance 
in  food,  present  in  microscopic  amounts,  without 
which  life  cannot  continue,  it  was  an  interesting, 
though  not  wholly  an  unexpected  discovery. 

Vitamine.  At  this  point  we  shall  anticipate  a 
little  and  state  that  the  name  vitamine  has  been 
given  to  the  substance  or  substances — such  as  the 


96  VITAMINES 

"something"  in  milk — which,  though  present  in 
minute  quantities  in  foods,  are  absolutely  essential 
to  a  continuation  of  the  life  process. 

The  word  mtwmine  was  coined  by  Casimir  Funk, 
a  Pole.  The  first  part  of  the  word  indicates  its 
relation  to  the  life  process ;  the  second,  to  its  chem- 
ical nature.  As  we  shall  see,  objections  have  not 
been  wanting  to  the  use  of  the  word. 

The  Function  of  Vitamines.  But  what  is  the 
function  of  these  vitamines?  If  fats  and  carbohy- 
drates supply  the  fuel,  and  proteins  the  material 
for  tissue  supply,  and  mineral  salts  are  needed  for 
bone  construction,  etc.,  just  what  do  the  vitamines 
supply?  We  do  not  know.  Some,  such  as  Pro- 
fessor Gies,  are  of  opinion  that  they  supply  the 
body  with  certain  necessary  chemical  units  which 
the  body  is  unable  to  manufacture.  Others — Pro- 
fessor Hopkins,  for  example, — regard  these  vita- 
mines  in  the  light  of  stimulators,  in  that  they 
exert  a  stimulating  influence  upon  the  various 
activities  of  the  body.  But  all  this  is  intelligent 
guesswork  and  nothing  more. 

Now  we  must  proceed  to  develop  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  vitamines  in  such  detail,  and  yet  in  so  non- 
technical a  way,  as  to  convince  the  reader  that, 
though  no  one  has  ever  set  eyes  on  a  vitamine, 
vitamines  are  real  things  and  quite  indispensable 
as  part  of  our  dietary.  We  have  been  eating  them 
ever  since  man  and  things  that  have  life  appeared 
on  this  planet;  but  we  were  ignorant  of  the  fact. 
Like  certain  amino-acids  (in  proteins)  which  serve 
as  indispensable  units  in  the  building  and  repair 


VITAMINES  97 

of  protoplasm,  and  which  always  formed  a  part 
of  our  diet  even  long  before  we  were  aware  that 
such  substances  as  amino-acids  existed,  so  with 
these  vitamines:  we  have  used  them  always,  but 
we  have  discovered  them  only  within  the  last  few 
years. 

Stepp's  Experiments.  In  1909,  some  three  years 
after  Hopkins  had  begun  the  earliest  of  his  experi- 
ments, Stepp,  a  German,  turned  his  attention  to 
the  importance  of  the  fat  moiety  in  diets.  He  was 
particularly  interested  in  certain  very  peculiar  sub- 
stances that  are  present  in  every  cell  and  whose 
function  is  to  this  day  very  obscure :  the  lipoids. 
They  are  always  very  closely  associated  with  the 
fats  in  food  and  living  tissues.  Wherever  fats  are, 
there  are  lipoids  too;  and  the  very  solvents  that 
remove  fats  remove  most  of  the  lipoids. 

Stepp  found  that  rats  fed  with  bread  made  with 
milk  throve  and  in  time  begot  young  that  in  turn 
developed  quite  normally.  When  the  bread  was 
first  extracted  with  a  mixture  of  alcohol  and  ether 
and  the  residue  offered  as  food  to  the  rats,  the  ani- 
mals declined  rapidly.  Upon  the  addition  of  the 
alcohol-ether  extract  to  the  residue,  the  animals 
again  began  to  gain  in  weight.  Evidently  the  mix- 
ture of  alcohol  and  ether  extracted  "something" — 
or  more  than  one  thing — which  is  a  necessary  con- 
stituent of  food. 

Since  this  ether-alcohol  extraction  may  sound  a 
little  vague,  let  us  turn  to  a  simple  experiment  that 
may  help  to  make  this  clear.  In  a  dish  we  mix 
some  sugar,  sand  and  charcoal  together.  We  next 


98  VITAMINES 

pour  some  water  into  this  mixture  and  stir.  The 
chemist  will  tell  you  that  neither  the  charcoal  nor 
the  sand  dissolves  in  the  water,  and  your  own  ex- 
perience will  corroborate  such  an  assertion ;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  chemist  knows  and  you  know  that 
sugar  does  dissolve  in  water.  The  effect  then  of 
adding  water  to  the  mixture  of  sugar,  sand  and 
charcoal  is  to  extract  the  sugar  from  the  mixture. 
And  just  as  water  extracts  sugar  from  a  mixture, 
so  will  alcohol,  and  particularly  ether,  or  both 
ether  and  alcohol  together,  extract  fats  and  lipoids 
from  a  mixture  such  as  food. 

When  therefore  Stepp  found  that  bread  made 
with  milk  was  a  wholesome  food,  whereas  bread 
after  extraction  with  alcohol  and  ether  was  not, 
he  concluded  that  the  cause  of  such  a  deficient  food 
was  due  to  the  absence  of  fat,  or  lipoid,  or  both. 
He  ruled  out  the  protein  because  that  is  as  little 
dissolved  by  alcohol  and  ether  as  is  sand  by  water. 
He  ruled  out  fat  because  the  addition  of  butter  fat 
to  the  residue  left  after  the  alcohol-ether  extrac- 
tion, failed  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  rats. 
Neither  did  the  addition  of  a  variety  of  mineral 
salts  help  in  any  way.  Aside  from  fat,  the  only 
other  possible  constituents  in  this  alcohol-ether 
extract — in  proportions  at  all  appreciable — were 
the  ill-defined  group  of  substances  known  as  the 
lipoids;  and  Stepp  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
absence  from  the  diet  of  one  or  more  of  these  lipoids 
gave  rise  to  nutritive  decline. 

Without  necessarily  agreeing  with  Stepp's  con- 
clusion regarding  the  efficacy  of  lipoids,  his  experi- 


VITAMINES  99 

ments  did  show  quite  clearly  that  something  other 
than  fat,  protein,  carbohydrate  and  mineral  salts 
is  necessary  in  an  adequate  diet;  and  in  this  re- 
spect Stepp's  conclusions  were  in  accord  with  those 
of  Hopkins. 

Drs.  HcCollum,  Osborne  and  Mendel.  Now 
come  a  few  significant  observations  by  Drs.  McCol- 
lum,  Osborne  and  Mendel.  They  found  that  an 
unwholesome  diet  with  isolated  foodstuffs  in  which 
fat  was  represented  in  the  shape  of  lard,  could  be 
converted  into  a  perfectly  wholesome  one  by  merely 
replacing  the  lard  with  butter  fat.  Lard,  obtained 
from  swine,  is  as  much  of  a  fat  as  butter  fat  or 
olive  oil,  or  any  other  of  the  several  varieties  of 
fats  and  oils  on  the  market.  The  differences  among 
the  fats  are  largely  due  to  differences  in  quantity 
of  the  three  fatty  acids  they  usually  contain.  The 
differences  can  never  be  as  profound  as  those  be- 
tween proteins,  formed  as  the  latter  are  from  eigh- 
teen different  amino-acids. 

When,  therefore,  our  investigators  found  the 
substitution  of  lard  for  butter  fat  to  produce  loss 
of  weight  and  general  decline  in  rats,  they  attrib- 
uted the  deficiency  of  lard  not  to  the  fat  itself, 
but  to  a  something  accompanying  the  butter  fat 
and  not  the  lard. 

This  something,  this  vitamine  let  us  call  it,  was 
being  tracked  to  its  birthplace.  Hopkins'  experi- 
ment had  shown  that  milk  contains  a  vitamine; 
but  milk  is  a  pretty  complex  fluid.  Is  the  vitamine 
distributed  evenly  throughout  the  liquid,  or  is  it 
confined  to  one  or  more  constituents  of  the  milk? 


100  VITAMINES 

Stepp's  work  pointed  rather  vaguely  to  the  fat ;  but 
our  three  American  investigators  converted  this 
vagueness  into  reasonable  certainty. 

The  Nutritive  Value  of  Different  Fats  Compared. 
Osborne,  Mendel  and  McCollum  went  even  fur- 
ther. They  showed  that  while  the  fat  from  egg 
yolk  and  codliver  oil,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  beef 
fat,  could  successfully  replace  butter  fat,  neither 
olive  nor  almond  oil  could;  so  that  the  latter  two 
were  no  better  than  lard.  And  what  was  very 
significant  in  these  experiments  was  that  by  the 
substitution  of  the  vitamine-containing  fat  for  the 
fat  which  evidently  was  vitamine-free,  not  only  did 
the  rats  resume  growth  and  gain  in  weight,  but 
disorders  due  to  malnutrition  disappeared,  and 
the  general  resistance  of  the  rats  to  disease  in- 
creased. 

That  the  deficiency  of  lard  is  not  due  to  its  man- 
ner of  preparation,  which  involves  steaming,  and 
which  might  perhaps  destroy  the  vitamine,  was 
shown  by  Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel  by  heating  but- 
ter fat  with  steam — an  operation  which  did  not 
make  the  butter  fat  any  the  less  effective.  Inci- 
dentally this  indicated  a  surprising  resistance  of 
vitamine  to  the  effect  of  high  temperature.  Ex- 
periments to  be  described  presently  will  necessi- 
tate a  modification  of  this  view — at  least,  in  so  far 
as  vitamines  other  than  the  one  just  described  are 
concerned. 

Vital  to  the  organism  as  these  vitamines  ap- 
peared to  be,  they  could  not  serve  the  place  of  a 
deficient  supply  of  fat,  protein,  carbohydrate  and 


VITAMIFES 

mineral  salts.     It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
remember  this  statement. 

For  some  time  the  results  of  our  American  in- 
vestigators were  taken  at  their  face  value,  and 
the  opinion  was  generally  expressed  that  the  vita- 
mine,  though  not  actually  in  the  hands  of  the  scien- 
tific police,  was  known  to  be  hiding  in  the  fat 
portion  of  the  food. 

Conflicting  Observations.  Certain  clinical  ob- 
servations on  such  diseases  as  beriberi,  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  next  chapter,  also  strongly  supported 
the  view  that  vitamine  is  necessary ;  but  there  was 
one  sharp  point  of  difference  between  the  two 
schools.  McCollum,  Osborne  and  Mendel  had  re- 
peatedly made  the  observation  that  butter  fat  is 
extremely  rich  in  vitamine;  but  Funk  now  showed 
that  butter  fat  had  no  power  to  cure  beriberi, 
which,  as  will  be  shown  later,  is  a  disease  due  to 
vitamine  deficiency.  What  was  to  be  made  of 
such  conflicting  observations?  Were  the  experi- 
menters at  fault,  or  was  there  more  than  one  vita- 
mine? 

Dr.  McCollum  Solves  the  Difficulty.  The  prob- 
lem was  attacked  by  Dr.  McCollum.  A  synthetic 
diet  which  he  had  found  amply  sufficient  to  meet 
all  requirements  consisted  of  the  following:  casein 
(the  protein  obtained  from  milk)  18  per  cent;  lac- 
tose (the  scientific  name  for  milk  sugar,  which 
belongs  to  the  class  of  carbohydrates  and  is  ob- 
tained from  milk)  20  per  cent;  butter  fat  5  per 
cent;  salt  mixture  (meaning  the  mineral  salts) 
in  quantity  and  variety  such  as  is  found  in  milk, 


ips     '!:.'"••'•::    :    %YITAMINES 

and  proved  to  be  superior  to  Dr.  Hopkins'  original 
salt  mixture;  and  starch  (another  carbohydrate) 
to  make  up  100  per  cent.  Water  of  course  was 
offered  a-plenty:  as  our  scientist  friends,  fond  of 
their  Latin,  are  in  the  habit  of  putting  it,  ad 
libitum. 

Polished  rice,  a  term  to  be  explained  in  the  next 
chapter,  was  known  to  produce  beriberi  in  men 
and  similar  diseases  in  birds.  Eice,  like  all  grain 
products,  contains  a  large  percentage  of  carbohy- 
drates, chiefly  starch ;  the  polished  variety  as  high 
as  80  per  cent.  McCollum  now  modified  his  syn- 
thetic diet  in  such  a  way  as  to  add  rice  to  it,  but 
subtract  the  starch  and  milk  sugar;  so  that  the 
proposed  diet  consisted  of  rice,  casein,  butter  fat 
and  salt  mixture.  He  reasoned  that  the  rice  con- 
tained more  than  enough  starch  to  take  the  place 
both  of  the  starch  and  the  milk  sugar  in  the 
original  diet.  But  with  this  modified  diet  his  ani- 
mals developed  beriberi  symptoms. 

This  was  rather  perplexing.  The  experiment 
confirmed  Funk's  assertion  that  butter  fat  could 
not  cure  the  disease,  for  the  diet  included  ample 
proportions  of  this  fat.  On  the  other  hand,  butter 
fat  in  the  original  synthetic  diet,  had  been  shown 
to  be  the  cause  of  renewed  growth  and  general  de- 
velopment in  rats. 

McCollum  very  carefully  went  over  his  data. 
The  only  substance  that  was.  not  included  in  his 
modified  diet  that  had  formed  part  of  his  original 
synthetic  diet  was  milk  sugar.  He  had  no  reason 
to  believe  that  milk  sugar  as  a  carbohydrate  was 


VITAMINES  103 

in  any  way  superior  to  starch.  But  perhaps  after 
all  it  was?  Or  perhaps,  still  more  likely,  this 
sugar  contained  vitamine,  not  necessarily  identical 
with  the  vitamine  in  butter  fat,  which  had  the 
power  of  curing  beriberi,  just  as  the  butter  fat 
vitamine  had  the  power  of  promoting  growth? 

And  truly  enough,  when  milk  sugar  was  included 
in  the  diet  of  the  sick  animals  they  very  soon  re- 
covered. 

McCollum  next  showed  that  by  very  careful  puri- 
fication of  the  milk  sugar  he  obtained  a  product 
which  could  no  longer  cure  beriberi.  In  other 
words,  the  purer  the  milk  sugar  the  less  efficacious 
the  remedy!  This  clearly  pointed  to  but  one 
thing :  that  the  cure  was  not  due  to  the  milk  sugar, 
but  to  some  impurity  in  milk  sugar;  and  that  this 
impurity  could  be  removed  by  carefully  refining 
the  sugar. 

That  such  a  view  was  sound  was  proved  when 
to  a  diet  including  the  purified  milk  sugar,  which 
had  no  curative  power,  the  washings  containing 
all  the  impurities  that  had  been  removed,  were 
added;  the  cure  was  immediate  and  effective. 

How  small  in  quantity  the  vitamine  present  as 
an  impurity  in  the  lactose  actually  is,  may  be 
judged  by  the  following:  The  milk  sugar  used  by 
Dr.  McCollum  was  manufactured  by  Kahlbaum, 
a  concern  renowned  in  the  scientific  world  for  the 
purity  of  its  chemicals.  After  further  treatment 
by  McCollum,  chemical  analysis  failed  to  show  any 
material  difference  between  the  original  and  the 
treated  sugar.  Yet  something  must  undoubtedly 


104  VITAMINES 

have  been  removed,  for,  biologically,  the  two  sugars 
acted  so  differently;  and  to  escape  detection,  this 
something — our  vitamine — must  have  been  present 
in  exceedingly  minute  proportions. 

Two  Distinct  Vitamines.  Clinicians  and  physi- 
ologists had  arrived  at  one  conclusion:  a  factor 
other  than  protein,  fat,  carbohydrate  and  mineral 
salts  is  necessary.  This  factor  they  called  vita- 
mine.  But  McCollum  now  showed  that  there  are 
in  fact  two  distinct  factors,  two  distinct  vitamines 
at  least,  and  that  "the  substance  which  relieves 
the  condition  of  polyneurites  in  pigeons  (compar- 
able to  beriberi  in  man)  is  always  present  in  prep- 
arations which  render  the  purified  food  mixture 
capable  of  promoting  growth." 

This  last  statement  is  very  important.  Says 
McCollum,  if  you  think  that  in  our  earlier  experi- 
ments with  butter  fat  versus  lard  the  only  thing 
that  mattered  is  the  vitamine  in  the  butter  fat, 
you  are  much  mistaken ;  there  was  the  other  vita- 
mine,  present  in  my  milk  sugar  (and  as  we  shall 
show,  in  other  food  products)  that  played  an 
equally  important  part;  for  it  prevented  beriberi. 
It  was  there,  but  you  and  I  were  not  aware  of  it. 

Fat-Soluble  A  and  Water-Soluble  B.  Later  on 
Dr.  McCollum  and  others  showed  that  wheat,  and 
particularly  yeast,  was  very  rich  in  this  second 
vitamine,  which  we  shall  call  water-soluble  B,  in 
distinction  to  the  first  vitamine,  which  we  shall 
call  fat-soluble  A.  The  naming  of  these  two  vita- 
mines  is  due  to  McCollum. 

To  illustrate  still  further  this  water-soluble  B 


VITAMINES  105 

factor,  I  shall  describe  a  short  experiment  taken 
from  Professor  Hawk's  book.*  Two  white  rats 
from  one  to  two  months  old  and  weighing  from 
thirty  to  sixty  grams  (one  to  two  ounces)  are  fed 
on  an  adequate  synthetic  diet  consisting  of  casein 
20  per  cent,  butter  fat  15  per  cent,  starch  56  per 
cent,  salt  mixture  (mineral  salts)  4  per  cent  and 
yeast  5  per  cent.  The  butter  fat  supplies  fat-solu- 
ble A,  and  the  yeast,  water-soluble  B.  You  will 
remember  that  in  McCollum's  early  synthetic  diet 
the  water-soluble  B  was  obtained  from  the  milk 
sugar.  In  about  two  weeks  the  rats  double  their 
weight.  Now  the  yeast  (containing  the  water- 
soluble  B)  is  eliminated.  The  food  still  contains 
sufficient  energy-yielding  material,  sufficient  pro- 
tein rich  in  amino-acids,  etc.  You  may,  if  you  like, 
add  even  more  casein  or  butter  fat  to  the  diet. 
The  result  is  all  the  same:  the  rats  lose  weight. 
They  lose  weight  so  rapidly  that  in  two  weeks 
they  drop  from  80  to  60  grams. 

By  retaining  the  yeast  in  the  diet,  but  substitut- 
ing lard  for  butter  fat,  the  influence  of  fat-soluble 
A  can  be  illustrated. 

For  convenience  we  can  summarize  our  results 
as  follows: 

Vitamines 

A      B     Growth 
Purified  protein + starch + inorganic  salt-}- vegetable  fat     —     —         — 

/  vegetable  fat      —     +         — 
Und  yeast 

<«  «<          .<      /butter  fat  +     +         + 

\  and  yeast  ^ 

*P.  B.  Hawk:  Practical  Physiological  Chemistry  (P.  Blakis- 
ton's  Son  &  Co.,  1918),  page  585. 


106  VITAMINES 

FIGURE  8. — A  SATISFACTORY  SYNTHETIC  DIET 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  FAT-SOLUBLE  A 

AND  WATER-SOLUBLE  B  ON  THE  GROWTH 

AND  NUTRITION  OF  RATS 

Here  are  given  a  number  of  curves  illustrating 
the  changes  in  body  weight  of  rats  which  were  fed 
from  an  early  age  upon  an  artificial  ration  of  puri- 
fied protein,  carbohydrate,  fat  and  inorganic  salts, 
supplemented  with  adequate  amounts  of  the  factors 
"A"  and  "B."  * 

The  actual  dietary  employed  was  constituted  as 
follows :  Purified  casein,  20  parts ;  Purified  starch, 
55  parts;  Mixture  of  crystalline  inorganic  salts, 
5  parts;  Butter  fat  (as  source  both  of  fat  and  the 
factor  "A"),  15  parts;  Yeast  extract  (as  a  source 
of  factor  "B"),  5  parts. 

Chart  shows  normal  growth  of  rats  over  4-5 
months  with  production,  and  satisfactory  growth, 
of  young  on  above  dietary. 

Curve  1  represents  the  growth  of  a  male  rat,  and 
Curve  2  the  growth  of  a  female  rat.  At  the  points 
marked  on  the  second  curve  litters  of  young  were 
born.  Average  curves  for  the  growth  of  the  second 
generation  reared  on  this  diet  are  given  in  Curve  3 
(males)  and  Curve  4  (females).  In  one  experi- 
ment four  generations  were  reared  upon  this  diet- 
ary as  a  sole  source  of  food,  and  in  every  case  the 
animals  were  well  up  to,  and  in  some  cases  were 
considerably  superior  to,  the  normal  standard. 

Report  of  the  British  Medical  Research 
Committee,  1919. 

*  The  curves  illustrating  this  section  are  taken  from  records  ob- 
tained during  experiments  carried  out  by  Drummond.  They  con- 
firm those  previously  obtained  by  McCollum  and  his  co-workers. 


weyM  of  fiat  in  Grvun* 
t  I 


108  VITAMINES 

Notice,  please,  that  we  have  not  isolated  our 
vitamines.  We  have  not  the  least  idea  of  what  they 
look  like  and  little  idea  of  what  they  are.  All  that 
we  can  say  is  that  certain  foods  contain  them  and 
others  do  not,  Still  better,  that  certain  foods  con- 
tain one  or  more  factors  essential  to  life  and  others 
do  not.  We  are  made  aware  of  their  presence  by  a 
process  of  elimination.  If  a  diet  is  adequate  when 
butter  fat  is  included,  and  not  adequate  when  but- 
ter fat  gives  place  to  lard,  we  look  to  the  butter  fat 
for  the  missing  factor.  If  after  having  examined 
the  butter,  our  chemistry  still  affords  us  no  help 
in  isolating  the  effective  substance,  if  after  having 
accounted  for  every  known  constituent  in  butter 
fat  without  being  able  to  trace  the  effective  sub- 
stance to  any  one  of  the  constituents,  then  we  are 
led  to  the  conclusion  (from  our  feeding  experi- 
ments) that  something  is  there  which  chemical 
analysis  has  so  far  failed  to  detect.  We  cannot 
see  it  but  its  effects  are  obvious.  The  effects  come 
within  the  range  of  our  senses.  We  cannot  see 
micro-organisms  with  the  naked  eye;  we  detect 
their  presence  by  the  use  of  the  microscope.  We 
cannot  see  atoms  and  the  still  smaller  electrons ;  yet 
science  has  found  a  way  of  measuring  them.  And 
so  we  have  not  so  far  been  able  to  isolate  a  vita- 
mine  ;  we  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  look  at  one ; 
but  our  science  teaches  us  how  to  know  when  it  is 
present  or  absent  "by  its  effects  on  the  living  or- 
ganism. 

An  Adequate  Diet.  From  what  has  been  said  we 
may  now  formulate  our  revised  conception  of  an 


VITAMINES  109 

adequate  diet.  "The  diet  must  contain,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  long  recognized  dietary  factors — viz.: 
protein,  a  source  of  energy  in  the  form  of  proteins, 
carbohydrates  and  fats;  a  suitable  supply  of  cer- 
tain inorganic  salts  * — two  as  yet  unidentified  sub- 
stances. One  of  these  is  associated  with  certain 
fats  (hence  fat-soluble  A),  and  is  especially  abun- 
dant in  butter  fat,  egg  yolk  fats  and  the  fats  of  the 
glandular  organs  such  as  the  liver  and  the  kidney, 
but  is  not  found  in  any  fats  or  oils  of  vegetable 
origin.  The  second  substance  or  group  of  sub- 
stances of  chemically  unidentified  nature,  is  never 
associated  with  either  fats  or  oils  of  animal  or 
vegetable  origin.  It  is  widely  distributed  in  natu- 
ral foods,  and  can  be  isolated  in  a  concentrated, 
but  not  in  a  pure  form,  from  natural  foodstuffs  by 
extraction  of  the  latter  with  either  water  (hence 
water-soluble  B)  or  alcohol.  This  water  or  alco- 
holic extract  always  contains  the  substance  which 
cures  polyneurites  [polyneurites  in  birds  is  com- 
parable to  beriberi  in  man.  See  the  next  chapter] . 
(McCollum.) 

Objections  to  the  Use  of  the  Word  "Vitamine" 
In  the  early  part  of  this  chapter  we  stated  that 
objections  were  not  wanting  to  the  name  vitamine. 

*  So  as  to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  some  of  my  readers,  I  shall 
give  the  composition  of  a  salt  mixture  that  has  proved  to  be  ex- 
tremely successful.  I  may  add  that  much  labor  has  been  ex- 
pended in  the  search  for  suitable  salt  mixtures.  The  compo- 
sition is  as  follows  (the  numbers  refer  to  grams) :  calcium  car- 
bonate 134.8;  magnesium  carbonate  24.2;  sodium  carbonate  34.2; 
potassium  iodide  0.020;  potassium  carbonate  141.3;  phosphoric 
acid  103.2;  hydrochloric  acid  53.4;  manganese  sulphate  0.079; 
sulphuric  acid  9.2;  citric  acid  111.1;  ferric  citrate  6.34;  sodium 
fluoride  0.248;  potassium  aluminum  sulphate  0.0245. 


110  VITAMINES 

Funk,  who  coined  the  word,  did  so  to  show  its 
relation  to  a  group  of  substances  known  to  the 
chemist  as  amines;  for  at  one  time  Funk's  experi- 
ments led  him  to  believe  that  these  substances  are 
of  an  amine  nature.  But  never  having  isolated 
them,  we  have  really  no  way  of  telling.  That  has 
led  Professor  Hopkins  in  England  to  suggest  the 
term  accessory  substance.  But  Professor  McCol- 
lum's  nomenclature,  fat-soluble  A  and  water-solu- 
ble B,  is  usually  preferred  in  scientific  circles,  be- 
cause, without  specifying  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
stance, they  tell  us  that  there  are  at  least  two 
such  substances,  and  they  also  tell  us  something 
about  their  solubilities. 

But  really  Hopkins  and  McCollum's  objections 
are  not  very  impressive.  We  still  speak  of  organic 
chemistry,  though  we  really  mean  the  chemistry 
of  the  carbon  compounds.  The  word  organic  came 
to  be  used  at  a  time  when  compounds  belonging 
to  this  branch  of  the  science  were  supposed  to  have 
something  vital  in  them.  But  when  Wohler  dis- 
proved this  theory  chemists  still  clung  to  the  name. 
The  name  had  become  established  in  the  literature ; 
and  so  long  as  we  remember  to  attach  no  particular 
significance  to  the  word  itself  but  only  to  what 
it  represents,  we  may  with  much  convenience  cling 
to  the  word  organic.  And  so  we  do. 

Funk  coined  the  word  vitamine  before  McCollum 
had  shown  that  there  were  at  least  two  such  sub- 
stances; and  the  world  of  science  began  to  use  the 
word  accordingly.  Why  not  allow  the  word  vita- 
mine  to  stand  for  a  group  of  substances  of  which 


VITAMINES  111 

fat-soluble  A  and  water-soluble  B  are  examples? 
We  need  no  more  think  of  vitamine  as  amine  than 
we  need  think  of  organic  chemistry  as  the  chem- 
istry of  compounds  contained  in,  or  produced  by, 
organs.  But  apart  from  all  this,  the  word  has  al- 
ready crept  into  the  scientific  literature.  Even 
the  public  press  is  using  it.  The  layman  may  be 
tempted  to  talk  mtamines,  but  he  will  turn  his 
back  scornfully  on  fat-soluble  A  and  water-soluble 
B,  and  perhaps,  later  on,  on  something  C  and  an- 
other D  and  so  on.  We  need  do  nothing  further 
to  discourage  our  lay  public  in  their  quest  for 
scientific  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  X 

VITAMINES  AND  PLANT  GROWTH 

In  the  summer  of  1912  the  author  well  remem- 
bers how  he  and  others  were  impressed  with  a  re- 
markable lecture  delivered  by  Professor  Gabriel 
Bertrand,  of  the  Sorbonne,  Paris,  on  the  effect  upon 
the  growth  of  plants  of  minute  additions  of  one  or 
two  elements,  particularly  manganese.  One  part 
of  manganese  in  one  million  of  the  culture  solution 
appreciably  increased  the  growth  of  molds.  It 
was  inevitable  that  such  profound  influences  due 
to  microscopic  amounts  of  substances  should  give 
rise  to  much  speculation.  Scientists  recalled  such 
substances  as  adrenalin  and  iodine  which  are  pres- 
ent in  minute  amounts  in  glands  of  the  body,  and 
which  exert  a  profound  influence  upon  our  well- 
being.  And  above  all,  there  are  these  enzymes, 
which  forever  synthesize  and  analyze  materials  in 
the  plant  and  animal  kingdom,  and  which  also  are 
present  in  such  minute  quantities. 

Next  came  an  unfolding  of  the  entire  field  of 
vitamines,  an  account  of  which  we  have  already 
given.  Here  again  the  effective  quantities  are 
ridiculously  small.  These  little  things  that  are 
brought  with  such  difficulty  within  our  sphere  of 

112 


VITAMINES  AND  PLANT  GROWTH         113 

vision  are  equally  important  with  the  bigger  things 
that  our  senses  grasp  much  more  easily. 

Do  Plants  Need  Vitaminesf  If  animals  need 
vitamines,  do  plants?  And  if  so,  where  do  the 
plants  get  them?  We  have  already  seen  that  our 
vegetable  products  may  contain  vitamine  (see  also 
the  summary),  but  to  what  extent,  if  any,  do  they 
themselves  need  them?  Or  do  the  plants  merely 
build  these  vitamines  so  as  to  supply  us  with  a 
necessity? 

Auximones.  We  owe  whatever  information  we 
have  on  this  subject  to  Professor  Bottomley,  an 
English  botanist.  He  has  shown  that  the  preva- 
lent idea  that  the  plants  merely  need  simple  inor- 
ganic materials,  such  as  carbon  dioxide,  water,  and 
mineral  salts  in  order  to  build  up  their  organic 
structure,  is  erroneous.  Working  with  several 
varieties  of  green  plants,  Professor  Bottomley  has 
been  able  to  prove  that  "the  addition  to  the  inor- 
ganic nutrients  of  minimal  quantities  of  certain 
organic  substances  is  absolutely  essential  if  the 
plants  are  to  grow  healthily  and  normally  for  any 
length  of  time."  What  was  added  was  not  really 
a  pure  organic  substance,  but  a  complex  mixture; 
but  the  mixture  contained  an  unidentified  sub- 
stance which  had  the  power  of  maintaining  life 
and  stimulating  growth  in  plants.  This  unidenti- 
fied substance — or  substances? — Professor  Bottom- 
ley  calls  an  auximone. 

Auximones  and  Vitamines  Are  Probably  Iden- 
tical. Now  the  reader  will  need  to  use  little  of 
his  imagination  to  see  how  readily  this  idea  of 


flU  VITAMINES 

auximone  in  plants  fits  in  with  the  vitamine  hy- 
pothesis in  animals.  Professor  IJottoiuley  himself 
was  the  first  to  recognize  that  his  auxiinones  are 
similar  in  function  to  the  vitaniiue's,  though  not 
necessarily  so  in  nature. 

Where  do  these  auximones,  or  vitamines,  or 
growth-promoting  substances  in  plants  come  from? 
They  are  organic  in  nature — presumably;  that 
leads  to  the  supposition  that  they  are  derived  from 
the  organic  matter  of  the  soil  in  which  the  plant 
is  growing. 

"Organic  matter  of  the  soil"  is  still  rather  vague. 
The  soil  is  very  complex  and  much  of  it  is  organic 
— a  complex  mixture  of  carbon  compounds  plus 
no  end  of  bacteria.  Here  again  Professor  Bottom- 
ley,  and  Miss  Mockeridge,  his  assistant,  bring  us 
enlightenment ;  for  they  have  noticed  that  whenever 
peat  is  attacked  by  soil  bacteria  so  that  it  decays, 
plant  vitamines  appear  in  much  force.  Such  a  de- 
composing peat  can  be  shaken  with  water,  and  the 
watery  extract  can  then  be  shown  to  stimulate 
plant  growth  and  also  to  stimulate  soil  bacteria 
particularly  the  type  that  bring  about  the  decompo- 
sition of  peat.  This  has  led  to  the  suggestion  that 
the  plant  vitamines — and  in  the  ultimate  analysis 
this  would  include  the  animal  vitamines — are  ac- 
tually produced  by  soil  organisms.  In  support  of 
this  contention  Professor  Bottomley  has  performed 
experiments  which  illustrate  how,  whenever  the 
bacterial  activity  in  the  soil  increases,  we  get  a 
corresponding  increase  in  vitamine  nrtivity.  The 
organic  manures  usually  applied  in  agriculture, 


VITAMINES  AND  PLANT  GROWTH         115 

such  as  leaf  mold  and  stable  manure,  were  exam- 
ined. They  all  contained  varying  proportions  of 
water-soluble  vitamine  corresponding  to  the  water- 
soluble  B  variety  with  which  we  are  already  fa- 
miliar. But  in  every  instance  an  extract  of  well- 
rotted  manure,  where  bacteria  are  particularly 
abundant,  was  far  more  effective  in  bringing  about 
growth  in  plants  than  an  extract  of  fresh  manure. 
Just  as  with  the  vitamines  the  animal  needs,  the 
amount  of  plant  vitamine  that  the  plant  needs  is 
so  small,  that  such  an  addition  to  the  plant  nutri- 
ents cannot  materially  add  to  their  calorific  value.* 

*  Mr.  C.  H.  Richardson,  of  the  Government  Bureau  in  Washing- 
ton, is  (imaged  in  experiments  with  insects  which  tend  to  show 
that  vit-uniiK'.s  .-ire  just  as  important  to  them  as  they  are  to  us  and 
to  plants  (private  communication  from  the  author);  and  we  have 
tfood  reasons  for  believing  that  yeasts  and  bacteria  need  these 
vitaraines  too. 


CHAPTER  XI 

VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI 

Beriberi  Symptoms.  Beriberi  is  a  disease  which 
at  one  time  was  particularly  common  among  ori- 
ental people,  though  by  no  means  unknown  outside 
of  Asia.  Its  final  stage  takes  the  form  of  a  gen- 
eral paralysis,  which  is  usually  very  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  death;  but  it  has  a  number  of  earlier 
symptoms  that  physicians  have  discovered.  The 
first  diagnosis  may  point  to  nothing  more  than  a 
catarrh,  but  this  is  followed  by  pains  in  the  limbs, 
by  swelling  of  parts,  by  extreme  weakness  and 
possible  paralysis  of  legs.  If  the  disease  makes 
further  headway,  the  swellings  will  extend  in  size 
and  increase  in  number ;  so  will  the  paralysis ;  and 
with  all  this  there  develops  a  marked  difficulty  in 
breathing.  In  time  the  patient  can  neither  walk 
nor  move  his  arms,  and  his  heart  may  become  seri- 
ously affected. 

Until  quite  recently  the  cause  of  this  disease 
was  a  mystery.  The  popular  belief  was  that  it 
was  due  to  an  infection.  Some  physicians,  how- 
ever, insisted  that  its  origin  must  be  traced  to  a 
faulty  diet, 

Beriberi  Among  the  Japanese.    The  "diet"  the- 

116 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  117 

ory  was  very  strongly  advocated  by  Takaki,  at  one 
time  medical  inspector-general  of  the  Japanese 
navy.  He  had  made  very  extensive  studies  of 
European  systems  of  hygiene,  and  found  that  in 
this  respect  Japanese  sailors  suffered  little  by  com- 
parison with  European  sailors.  The  latter  had 
few  or  no  beriberi  cases,  whereas  the  Japanese 
were  simply  infested  with  them.  Clearly  beriberi 
was  due  to  sornething  other  than  infection. 

While  in  Europe  Takaki  had  noted  the  propor- 
tions of  fat,  carbohydrate  and  protein  that  were 
distributed  among  the  men.  By  comparison  with 
the  Japanese,  the  Europeans  were  getting  far  more 
protein.  Much  of  the  Japanese  diet  consisted  of 
rice,  which  contains  a  high  percentage  of  carbohy- 
drate. Takaki  therefore  recommended  that  other 
foods  richer  in  protein  be  substituted  for  part  of 
this  rice.  Like  all  innovations,  this  one  met  with 
much  opposition. 

Then  in  the  early  eighties  of  the  last  century 
came  the  opportunity  for  a  crucial  test.  A  Japanese 
training  ship,  the  Ruijo,  with  276  men  on  board, 
set  out  for  a  cruise  of  nine  months.  During  this 
time  169  cases  of  beriberi  developed,  and  of  these, 
25  died.  Soon  after,  another  training  ship,  the 
Tsukuba,  with  a  similar  crew,  was  sent  out  over 
the  same  route;  but  this  time,  as  the  result  of 
Takaki's  earnest  plea,  the  crew's  diet  was  radically 
changed.  The  most  marked  departure  in  the  diet 
was  to  reduce  the  quantity  of  rice  and  include  a 
fairly  liberal  supply  of  milk  and  meat,  the  latter 
two  yielding  the  increased  amount  of  protein.  The 


118  VITAMINES 

change  was  nothing  short  of  miraculous.  During 
ten  months  only  14  cases  of  beriberi  developed,  and 
every  one  of  these  men  had  refused  to  adopt  the 
modified  diet! 

Takaki  became  the  hero.  Kice,  which  the  Japa- 
nese had  eaten  almost  exclusively,  was  now  reduced 
in  quantity;  meat,  fish,  vegetables  and  milk  were 
substituted,  and  everywhere  the  beneficial  results 
of  the  modified  diet  were  in  evidence. 

You  will  remember  that  Takaki  regarded  beri- 
beri as  being  due  to  protein  deficiency,  and  the 
results  apparently  confirmed  his  view.  We  must 
now  record  some  observations  which  will  prove 
that  the  disease  is  not  due  to  protein,  but  to  vita- 
mine  deficiency;  that  rice  of  the  type  used  by  the 
Japanese  is  woefully  deficient  in  vitamin^  of  the 
water-soluble  B  type;  and  that  the  addition  of 
meat  and  vegetables  and  milk  supplied  the  neces- 
sary vitamine. 

Polyneurites  In  Fowls.  We  must  turn  our  atten- 
tion to  another  eastern  colony,  Java,  a  Dutch  set- 
tlement. The  year  is  1897.  For  fifteen  years — 
ever  since  1882 — no  further  progress  on  the  cause 
of  beriberi  had  been  made.  Many  had  adopted 
Takaki Js  view  of  protein  deficiency.  Some  still 
adhered  to  the  infection  theory.  An  accident  led 
Eijkman,  a  Dutch  physician  stationed  at  Java,  to 
re-investigate  the  whole  subject.  He  had  some 
fowls  that  were  to  be  used  for  a  number  of  ex- 
periments in  which  he  was  interested.  One  fine 
day  all  the  fowls  fell  sick.  The  symptoms  they 
developed  were  characteristic  of  the  symptoms  the 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  119 

natives  developed  in  beriberi,  only  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  form  common  to  human  beings,  Eijkmani 
called  the  disease  in  fowls  poly  neuritis.  But  how 
did  the  fowls  get  the  disease? 

Upon  questioning  the  attendant,  the  important 
information  was  brought  out  that  some  days  pre- 
ceding the  outbreak  the  fowls  were  fed  with  some 
cooked  rice  left  over  in  the  hospital  kitchen.  Eijk- 
man  thereupon  replaced  the  diet  of  cooked  rice 
with  another  also  consisting  of  rice,  but  in  the 
raw,  unhusked  condition.  The  fowls  very  quickly 
got  well  again. 

"Polished"  Rice.  At  this  point  it  must  be  ex- 
plained that  in  the  original  state  the  rice  proper 
is  surrounded  by  a  skin,  the  pericarp,  which  may 
be  white  or  yellow,  or  red,  or  nearly  black,  or  any 
combination  of  these  colors.  Outside  the  pericarp 
is  the  husk.  The  "polished"  rice,  white  in  color, 
results  from  a  process  of  milling  whereby  the  peri- 
carp and  the  entire  outer  portions  are  removed. 
"Cured"  rice  still  retains  some  pericarp,  but  no 
husk.  In  our  description  so  far,  wherever  rice 
was  stated  to  be  the  cause  of  beriberi,  the  refer- 
ence was  to  the  highly  polished  variety.* 

The  cooked  rice  that  had  been  given  the  fowls 
was  "polished"  rice.  Eijkman  quickly  followed 
up  his  preliminary  investigation  by  showing  that 
polished  rice  always  induced  polyneurites  in  birds, 
and  that  the  addition  of  some  unpolished  rice,  or 
merely  its  outer  coating,  which  is  discarded  in 

*  The  European  and  American  diet  is  usually  so  varied  that  no 
amount  of  polished  rice  in  our  diet  will  induce  beriberi.  The  case 
is  often  different  with  Orientals. 


120  VITAMINES 

milling,  immediately  brings  relief.  Clearly  enough 
the  outer  coating  of  rice  must  have  contained 
something  which  brought  about  the  cure,  and  the 
absence  of  which  caused  the  disease. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Eijkman  considered  the 
large  carbohydrate  supply  (in  rice)  to  give  rise 
to  bacterial  poisons  in  the  intestine,  and  he  thought 
that  the  outer  coating  of  the  rice  possessed  an 
antidote  for  the  poison  produced. 

Eijkman  next  turned  his  attention  to  human 
beings.  He  investigated  27  of  the  native  prisons 
in  Java.  Wherever  "polished"  rice  was  fed  to 
the  prisoners,  beriberi  raged;  in  some  cases  the 
afflicted  numbered  50  per  cent  of  the  total  number 
of  prisoners.  But  where  the  unpolished  or  "cured" 
variety  was  used,  but  few  cases  developed.  The 
men  behaved  like  the  fowls  and  like  birds  in  gen- 
eral. 

Eijkman's  work  placed  a  powerful  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  medical  men.  For  the  first  time  they  had 
a  readily  available  means  of  studying  a  disease 
which  had  wrought  havoc  to  vast  populations. 
Birds  were  always  available.  They  were  as  avail- 
able to  the  investigator  in  Europe  as  to  the  one  in 
Asia.  Any  laboratory  in  any  part  of  the  five  con- 
tinents could  now  pursue  such  investigations.  But 
every  laboratory  did  not.  In  fact,  Eijkman's  pub- 
lication found  a  nice  resting  place  on  the  least 
accessible  of  shelves,  and  there  rested  quite  un- 
disturbed for  a  number  of  years. 

Notice  how  both  Takaki  and  Eijkman  were 
reaching  appreciably  nearer  to  the  goal.  Takaki 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  121 

was  right  when  he  attributed  beriberi  to  a  faulty 
diet,  but  he  was  wrong  when  he  believed  the  cause 
to  be  due  to  too  little  protein.  He  was  right  again 
in  suggesting  the  addition  of  meat  and  vegetables 
and  eggs  to  the  diet,  for  now  we  know  that  the 
vitamine  present  in  the  outer  portion  of  the  rice — 
and  there  is  such  a  vitamine  there,  though  there  is 
no  substance  that  acts  as  an  antidote  to  intestinal 
poisons — is  also  present,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
in  foods ;  but  of  course  Takaki  did  not  know  it. 

In  the  meantime,  physiologists  and  bio-chemists 
(or  physiological  chemists,  as  they  sometimes  call 
themselves),  who  were  not  clinical  men,  were  ar- 
riving at  certain  conclusions  regarding  the  im- 
portance of  diet  which,  later  on,  beautifully  cor- 
roborated the  clinical  findings.  These  two  groups 
of  workers  began  boring  a  tunnel  from  two  opposite 
ends.  Eventually  they  met. 

Diseases  Due  to  Dietary  Deficiencies.  In  1906, 
Professor  Hopkins,  a  physiologist  and  bio-chemist 
said,  "No  animal  can  live  on  a  mixture  of  pure 
protein,  fat  and  carbohydrate,  and  even  when  the 
necessary  inorganic  material  is  carefully  supplied 
the  animal  still  cannot  flourish.  The  animal  is  ad- 
justed to  live  either  on  plant  tissues  or  the  tissues 
of  other  animals,  and  these  contain  countless  sub- 
stances other  than  protein,  carbohydrate  and 
fats.  .  .  ."  He  pointed  to  diseases  such  as  rickets 
and  scurvy  as  being  due  to  dietary  deficiencies.  He 
was  at  that  time  probably  unfamiliar  with  Eijk- 
man's  work,  otherwise  beriberi  would  surely  have 
been  included  with  the  other  two. 


122  VITAMINES 

Eijkman's  work  was  neglected,  but  investigators 
were  independently  arriving  at  Eijkman's  results. 
Two  Englishmen,  Drs.  Frazer  and  Stanton,  in  a 
survey  of  the  Malay  peninsula  during  1908-1909, 
showed  that  the  native  laborers  never  suffered  from 
beriberi  if  fed  with  "cured"  rice,  and  that  suffer- 
ers could  always  be  restored  to  normal  health  if 
fed  with  "cured"  or  unhusked  rice  in  the  place  of 
the  polished  variety. 

In  the  Philippines.  The  following  year,  Major 
(now  Colonel)  Chamberlain,  of  the  IT.  S.  Army 
Medical  Corps,  and  a  number  of  his  associates, 
working  in  the  Philippines,  reduced  beriberi  cases 
among  the  Philippine  Scouts  by  changing  their 
diet  in  much  the  way  that  Eijkman  and  Frazer  and 
Stanton  had  done.  Among  the  5,000  men  compos- 
ing the  Scouts,  there  were  always  from  100  to  600 
laid  up  with  beriberi.  This  state  of  affairs  con- 
tinued until  1910.  In  that  year  Major  Chamber- 
lain substituted  unpolished  rice  and  a  small  quan- 
tity of  beans  for  the  polished  rice.  The  diet  prior 
to  1910  had  consisted  of  12  ounces  of  beef,  8  ounces 
of  white  flour,  8  ounces  of  potatoes  and  20  ounces 
of  polished  rice.  The  modified  ration  was  the  same 
except  that  in  the  place  of  20  ounces  of  polished 
rice,  16  ounces  of  unpolished  rice  and  1.6  ounces 
of  diet  beans  were  provided. 

The  figures  speak  for  themselves.  At  the  end  of 
1910  the  beriberi  cases  dropped  to  50 ;  the  following 
year  there,  were  three;  in  1912,  two;  in  1913,  zero. 

Yeast  a  Cure  for  Beriberi.  Eijkman's  pioneer 
researches  and  the  whole  subject  of  deficiency 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  1£3 

diseases  was  brought  to  the  front  again  by  Casimir 
Funk's  investigations  during  1910-1912.  Follow- 
ing up  the  Dutchman's  observations  on  beriberi, 
Dr.  Funk  showed  that  an  excellent  source  of  the 
"something"  which  can  cure  beriberi  is  yeast. 
Yeast  contains  a  "something"  which  apparently  is 
identical  with  the  "something"  in  the  husk  from 
rice.  But  Dr.  Funk's  plans  were  ambitious.  He 
wanted  to  isolate  this  "something"  from  yeast. 
The  operations  he  employed  for  doing  this  were 
elaborate  and  technical.  Those  who  are  interested 
may  consult  Funk's  original  papers,  references  to 
which  are  given  in  the  bibliography.  Suffice  it  to 
state  here  that  starting  with  200  pounds  of  yeast, 
he  ended  up  with  one-twelfth  of  an  ounce  of  a  sub- 
stance which  he  called  vitamine  for  reasons  already 
explained  in  the  last  chapter,  and  which  substance 
he  considered  was  responsible  for  the  cure  in  beri- 
beri. 

An  Attempted  Isolation  of  the  Vitamine.  While 
we  cannot  go  into  the  laboratory  details  of  this 
vitamine  preparation,  the  method  of  procedure  may 
be  illustrated.  You  have  your  bird — Funk  em- 
ployed pigeons — and  you  feed  it  with  polished  rice. 
Beriberi  develops ;  but  since  the  bird  is  the  hospital 
patient,  we  must  call  the  disease  polyneuritis. 
You  next  take  a  little  bit  of  your  ground  yeast  and 
mix  it  with  the  polished  rice.  The  beriberi  disap- 
pears. Yeast  contains  the  curative  agent,  just  as 
does  the  husk  in  rice.  You  next  take  your  yeast 
and  by  a  chemical  reaction,  or  a  series  of  such  re- 
actions, you  get  two  fractions,  A  and  B.  Yrou  now 


124  VITAMINES 

prepare  two  more  patients  by  feeding  pigeons  with 
polished  rice,  thereby  inducing  polyneuritis.  To 
the  diet  of  one  of  these  beriberi  pigeons  you  add  a 
little  bit  of  A.  The  bird  does  not  revive,  but  gets 
worse  and  worse  and  finally  dies.  To  the  diet  of 
the  other  animal  you  add  a  portion  of  B ;  the  bird 
completely  recovers.  From  this  it  follows  that  of 
your  two  fractions,  A  and  B,  A  does  not,  and  B 
does  contain  the  vitamine.  Whereupon  you  dis- 
card A  altogether  and  from  now  on  confine  your 
attention  to  B.  You  now  proceed  by  another 
series  of  chemical  reactions  to  divide  B  into  two 
or  more  fractions,  and  you  test  each  fraction  for 
the  vitamine  by  its  effects  when  added  to  a  diet  of 
polished  rice.  This  again  leads  to  a  rejection  of 
one  or  more  fractions;  and  once  again  you  need 
confine  your  attention  to  only  a  part  of  the  entire 
material.  And  so  you  go  on.  By  this  process  of 
elimination  Dr.  Funk's  200  pounds  of  yeast  yielded 
him  one-twelfth  of  an  ounce  of  very  active  material. 
So  active  was  this  material  that  an  amount  of  it 
weighing  no  more  than  one  fifteen-thousandth  of 
an  ounce,  when  added  to  an  otherwise  unsatisfac- 
tory diet,  cured  paralyzed  pigeons  within  a  few 
hours. 

At  one  time  Funk  thought  that  his  isolated  prod- 
uct was  100  per  cent  pure;  that  the  one-twelfth  of 
an  ounce  was  all  vitamine ;  and  that  no  impurities 
were  present.  But  now  neither  he  nor  other 
workers  in  the  field  are  very  certain  of  its  purity. 
There  are  good  reasons  for  believing  that  even  this 
small  amount  of  vitamine  isolated  from  200  pounds 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  125 

of  yeast  still  contains  substances  other  than  vita- 
mine.  But  Funk's  work  on  the  attempted  isolation 
of  the  active  substance  did  prove  what  a  profound 
influence  on  life  an  incredibly  small  quantity  of 
the  substance  exerts.  One  fifteen-thousandth  of 
an  ounce  of  vitamine  product  which,  please  remem- 
ber, is  still  not  pure  vitamine,  cannot  add  much 
to  the  energy  value  of  the  food ;  it  certainly  cannot 
add  much  to  our  stock  of  protein,  carbohydrate,  fat 
and  mineral  salts;  yet  its  presence  makes  life  pos- 
sible and  its  absence  makes  life  impossible.  We 
are  here  dealing  with  a  phenomenon  which  the  lay- 
man finds  as  hard  to  grasp  as  the  ether  that  is  sup- 
posed to  pervade  all  space;  but  the  evidence  in 
favor  of  a  vitamine  is  more  convincing  than  that 
in  favor  of  an  ether. 

Let  us  hasten  to  add  that  no  known  substance 
which  is  100  per  cent  pure  will  cure  beriberi. 
Neither  fat,  protein,  carbohydrate,  mineral  salts, 
nor  any  of  the  other  countless  products  with  which 
the  chemist  is  familiar,  will  cure — always  provided 
the  substances  used  are  pure;  for  remember  that  in 
the  ordinary  foods  we  eat,  the  vitamine  is  present 
among  what  we  call  the  "impurities/'  * 

Beriberi  Vitamine  and  Water-Soluble  B  Vita- 
mine  Are  Identical.  The  vitamine  that  cures  beri- 
beri is  identical  with  water-soluble  B  vitamine. 

*Dr.  Williams,  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  per- 
formed a  number  of  experiments  which  led  him  to  believe  that 
some  compounds  belonging  to  the  chemical  group  known  as  purines 
do  show  vitamine  properties.  This  has  not  yet  been  confirmed  by 
other  workers.  Where  in  the  one  or  two  cases  Dr.  Williams' 
work  has  been  repeated  by  others,  they  have  failed  to  confirm  his 
results.  But  perhaps  it  is  a  little  too  premature  to  pass  judgment. 


126  VITAMINES 

The  evidence  for  this  is  as  follows :  All  foods  con- 
taining water-soluble  B  (see  summary)  have  been 
used  successfully  to  cure  beriberi;  all  other  foods 
are  valueless  for  this  purpose.  Foods  containing 
fat-soluble  A  only  are  valueless.  For  example,  no 
amount  of  butter  fat,  rich  in  fat-soluble  A,  is  of 
the  least  value  as  a  cure.  On  the  other  hand,  un- 
polished rice,  or  yeast,  or  beans  or  whole  wheat 
are  excellent  restoratives.  Of  course  one  food  may 
contain  more  of  the  water-soluble  B  than  another; 
therefore  the  amounts  to  be  used  to  relieve  beriberi 
will  vary  with  different  foods. 

This  leads  us  to  a  very  definite  test  for  the 
presence  of  water-soluble  B.  Will  a  portion  or  an 
extract  of  your  particular  food  cure  beriberi 
(which,  remember,  you  can  readily  induce  in  birds 
by  feeding  them  with  polished  rice,  or  with  any 
other  food  deficient  in  water-soluble  B )  ?  If  it 
does,  it  contains  water-soluble  B;  if  it  does  not, 
water-soluble  B  is  absent. 

The  discussion  in  the  preceding,  and  in  this 
chapter,  and  particularly  the  discussion  of  Dr. 
Funk's  work,  inevitably  leads  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  a  something  which  is  not  any  one  of 
the  ^recognized  foods  and  which  is  present  in  foods 
in  infinitesimal  amounts,  that  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  all  life.  I  say  "all  life"  advisedly,  for  we 
have  already  seen  how  Professor  Bottomley's  ex- 
periments have  proved  that  what  is  true  of  animals 
is  also  true  of  plants.  This  something  Funk  calls 
a  vitamine.  In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  pre- 
sented evidence  to  show  that  there  are  at  least 


VITAMINES  AND  BERIBERI  127 

two  substances  of  this  type,  fat-soluble  A  and  water- 
soluble  B.  We  shall  presently  give  reasons  for 
believing  that  there  are  more  than  these  two  vita- 
mines. 


CHAPTER  XII 

VITAMINES  AND  RICKETS 

Professor  McCollum's  researches,  described  in 
Chapter  IX,  have  shown  us  that  there  are  at  least 
two  distinct  vitamines,  fat-soluble  A  and  water- 
soluble  B.  The  latter  is  identical  with  the  vita- 
mine  that  cures  beriberi.  Since  beriberi  is  a  nerve 
disease,  the  water-soluble  B  that  cures  this  disease 
is  called  the  anfineun/£t*c  vitamine. 

Now  the  question  arises,  does  the  absence  of  fat- 
soluble  A  from  the  diet  give  rise  to  some  specific 
disease?  As  early  as  1913  Drs.  Osborne  and  Men- 
del noticed  that  a  deficiency  of  fat-soluble  A  in 
the  diet  of  rats  gives  rise  to  a  characteristic  infec- 
tion of  the  external  eye,  known  as  xerophthalmia. 
The  progress  of  the  disease  is  rapid,  and  if  not 
checked,  the  cornea  may  become  involved  and  total 
blindness  may  result.  The  frequency  of  this  eye 
disease  among  rats  whose  diets  did  not  include  the 
fat-soluble  A  factor  led  Professor  McCollum  to  the 
view  that  xerophthalmia  is  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  absence  of  this  vitamine.  This  view,  how- 
ever, has  not  gone  unchallenged. 

Drs.  Hopkins  and  Funk  are  of  the  opinion  that 
•;i28 


VITAMINES  AND  RICKETS  129 

rickets  is  the  result  of  fat-soluble  A  deficiency  and 
English  schools  of  physiology  and  medicine  have 
supported  them  in  this  view.  In  America  this 
opinion  has  met  with  some  opposition.  This  op- 
position really  resolves  itself  into  something  like 
this:  we  do  not  deny  that  fat-soluble  A  is  one  of 
the  causes,  but  we  do  not  think  that  it  is  the  only 
factor  involved. 

Fat-Soluble  A  and  Rickets.  Fat-soluble  A  is 
one  of  the  causes  of  what?  Of  rickets.  Kickets 
is  defined  by  Sir  William  Osier  as  "a  disease  of 
infants,  characterized  by  impaired  nutrition  of  the 
entire  body  and  alterations  in  the  growing  bones." 
Perhaps  no  disease  commoner  to  infants  living  in 
the  temperate  zone  is  known.  Though  particularly 
widely  distributed  among  the  poorer  classes,  it  is 
by  no  means  uncommon  among  children  of  the  well- 
to-do.  In  America  children  of  Italian  and  Negro 
parentage  are  great  sufferers;  90  per  cent  of  the 
infants  in  an  orphan  asylum  in  New  York  were 
found  by  Dr.  Hess  to  be  suffering  from  rickets  in 
one  form  or  another. 

Dr.  H.  Gideon  Wells,  the  eminent  Chicago 
pathologist,  who  spent  some  time  in  Koumania  on 
behalf  of  the  American  Bed  Cross,  relates  how 
many  of  the  children  were  stricken  with  eye-disease, 
often  a  very  characteristic  symptom  when  fat-solu- 
ble A  is  absent  from  the  diet.  For  a  long  time  the 
diet  of  the  poor  little  unfortunate  ones  had  con- 
sisted of  corn  meal  and  a  thin  bran-vegetable  soup, 
neither  of  which  contains  any  fat-soluble  A.  Dr. 
Wells  finally  managed  to  procure  some  codliver  oil 


ISO  VITAMINES 

which,  like  butter  fat,  is  rich  in  fat-soluble  A.  The 
eye  disease  disappeared  soon  after. 

Anatomical  Features.  Glisson,  an  English  anat- 
omist of  the  seventeenth  century,  so  accurately 
described  the  appearance  of  the  body  of  a  rickety 
child  that  a  portion  of  his  account  may  be  repro- 
duced: "The  parts  of  the  child  are  irregular  and 
of  unusual  proportion.  The  head  is  larger  than 
normal,  and  the  face  fatter  in  respect  to  the  other 
parts.  The  external  members  and  muscles  of  the 
body  are  seen  to  be  delicate  and  emaciated.  The 
whole  skin,  both  the  true  and  the  fleshy  and  fatty 
layers,  is  flaccid  and  rather  pendulous,  like  a  loose 
glove,  so  that  you  think  it  could  hold  much  more 
flesh.  The  joints  are  not  firm  or  rigid.  The  chest 
externally  is  thin  and  much  narrowed." 

When  a  chemical  analysis  of  rickety  bones  is 
made  we  always  find  the  quantity  of  calcium  to  be 
unusually  low.  Calcium  is  the  most  characteristic 
element*  in  the  bone,  and  its  low  percentage  in 
rickety  children  has  led  to  the  belief  that  an  insuffi- 
cient supply  of  calcium  in  the  diet,  or,  more  likely, 
a  difficulty  of  utilizing  the  element,  is  an  important 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  disease. 

Symptoms.  As  for  Mie  symptoms,  which  usually 
appear  before  the  child  begins  to  walk,  three  stand 
out  very  markedly:  first,  an  extreme  sensitiveness 
to  touch :  handling  the  child  will  cause  it  to  cry ; 
secondly,  a  slight  fever  (100  to  102  degrees),  ac- 
companied by  rather  restless  nights;  and  thirdly, 
profuse  sweating.  "The  tissues  become  soft  and 


VITAMINES  AND  RICKETS  131 

flabby;  the  skin  pale;  and  from  a  healthy,  plump 
condition,  the  child  becomes  puny  and  feeble." 

Conflicting  Views.  In  the  past  the  treatment  of 
rickets  varied  with  the  views  held  regarding  its 
etiology.  One  school  claimed  that  it  could  be 
traced  to  poor  hygienic  surroundings.  Naturally, 
with  such  a  belief  in  mind,  the  emphasis  was  placed 
on  plenty  of  fresh  air,  on  sunlight,  on  exercise. 
Another  school  claimed  that  it  was  due  to  a  faulty 
diet ;  the  fat  in  the  food  was  insufficient.  This  gave 
rise  to  the  use  of  codliver  oil.  This  oil,  belong- 
ing as  it  does  to  the  class  of  compounds  known 
as  fats,  is  certainly  rich  in  fat;  but  we  now  also 
know  that  it  is  rich  in  fat-soluble  A.  Perhaps  the 
value  of  the  oil  is  rather  due  to  the  vitamine  it 
contains  than  to  its  content  of  fat?  So  thought 
Dr.  Funk.  So,  also,  thought  Dr.  Mellanby,  an 
English  observer.  This  investigator  found  that 
dogs  deprived  of  fat-soluble  A  developed  rickets. 
He  showed  that  animal  fats  were  antirachitic — 
that  is,  cured  rickets,  whereas  vegetable  fats  did 
not.  You  will  remember  that  Drs.  McColluin,  Os- 
borne  and  Mendel  had  proved  certain  animal  fats 
to  be  rich  in  fat-soluble  A,  whereas  vegetable  fats 
were  poor  in  this  vitamine,  and  that  the  animal 
fats  were  far  better  promoters  of  growth  than  the 
vegetable  varieties. 

Absence  of  Fat-Soluble  A  Vitamine  Gives  Rise 
to  Rickets.  Dr.  Mellanby  fed  puppies  with  sep- 
arated milk,  wheat  bread,  linseed  oil,  yeast,  orange 
or  lemon  juice  and  salt.  They  developed  rickets 


132  VITAMINES 

within  six  weeks.  The  diet  was  ample  in  calorific 
content.  Its  food  constituents  were  well  distrib- 
uted. The  yeast  supplied  water-soluble  B  as  the 
antineuritic  vitamine,  and  the  orange  juice,  a  vita- 
mine  preventing  scurvy  (see  Chapter  xiii).  The  lin- 
seed oil  is  a  characteristic  fat>  but  it  is  poor  in 
fat-soluble  A.  As  little  as  one-third  of  an  ounce 
of  butter  or  codliver  oil  completely  prevented  rick- 
ets. Kemember  that  both  of  these  are  rich  in  fat- 
soluble  A.  Neither  cottonseed,  nor  olive  oil  had 
any  curative  effect.  "The  above  facts  are  in  keep- 
ing with  the  idea  that  rickets  is  a  disease  primarily 
due  to  a  deficiency  of  fat-soluble  A  vitamlne.  It 
is  believed  that  the  substances  associated  and  con- 
tained with  fat-soluble  A  are  particularly  con- 
cerned in  the  calcification  process  of  bone  and 
teeth"  (that  is  in  the  utilization  of  calcium  for  the 
building  of  bone  and  teeth). 

Let  us  hasten  to  add  that  Dr.  Mellanby  is  a 
scientist  of  much  distinction,  and  his  opinions  car- 
ry weight  everywhere.  During  the  war  the  British 
Government  appointed  a  Medical  Eesearch  Com- 
mittee to  investigate  some  of  the  pressing  medical 
problems  that  arose  as  a  result  of  the  war.  Among 
these  problems  was  one  dealing  with  infant  diet, 
particularly  the  bearing  of  vitamine  content  in  such 
diets.  The  Medical  Research  Committee  in  turn 
requested  Professor  Hopkins  of  Cambridge  and  Dr. 
Chick  of  the  Lister  Institute,  to  prepare  a  special 
report  on  the  subject.  If  you  turn  back  to  page 
91,  you  will  recall  this  Professor  Hopkins  as  the 
person  who  conducted  a  number  of  pioneer  inves- 


VITAMINES  AND  RICKETS  133 

tigations  on  vitamines.  During  the  last  few  years 
Miss  Chick's  researches  on  vitamines  have  won 
high  praise  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  After  a 
very  careful  examination  of  Dr.  Mellanby's  work, 
both  Professor  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Chick  adopted  Dr. 
Mellanby's  view  that  the  absence  of  fat-soluble  A 
in  the  diet  of  infants,  or  its  presence  in  insufficient 
amounts,  is  the  primary  cause  of  rickets.  Profes- 
sor Hopkins  and  Miss  Chick  drew  up  a  report  in- 
corporating these  views,  and  this  report  was 
adopted  by  the  Medical  Kesearch  Committee.  The 
report  was,  and  still  is,  very  extensively  used  as 
a  guide  for  those  engaged  in  the  administration  of 
food  relief  in  famine-stricken  countries. 

Further  Confirmation  of  the  View  That  Absence 
of  Fat- Soluble  A  Vitamine  Gives  Rise  to  Rickets. 
Investigations  by  Japanese  doctors  have  confirmed 
the  views  expressed  by  Dr.  Funk  and  Dr.  Mellanby. 
Among  a  group  of  children  suffering  from  rickets, 
whose  diet  consisted  of  rice,  barley,  cereals,  beans 
and  other  vegetables,  a  cure  was  very  rapidly  ac- 
complished by  the  addition  to  such  a  diet  of  cod- 
liver  oil,  but  not  of  olive  oil.  The  former  is  rich 
in  fat-soluble  A ;  the  latter  is  not. 

Dr.  Bloch  had  similar  experiences  in  his  clinic 
in  Copenhagen.  During  the  years  1912  to  1916,  49 
cases  of  what  was  apparently  rickets  were  very 
carefully  examined  by  him.  "The  infants  were 
pale,  flabby  and  very  thin,  with  dry,  scaly  and  very 
shriveled  skin.  Of  the  49  infants,  20  were  be- 
tween six  and  twelve  months  of  age,  15  from  two 
to  six  months,  and  14  over  one  year.  They  would 


134  VITAMINES 

scream  and  twist  and  turn,  and  wanted  to  be  let 
alone.  The  malnutrition  was  extreme  in  many 
cases;  for  example,  one  baby  of  nine  months 
weighed  nine  pounds,  one  of  a  year  weighed  13% 
pounds,  another  aged  two  years  weighed  14  pounds. 
Their  diet  consisted  of  an  indefinite  amount  of 
skimmed  milk  that  had  been  pasteurized  and 
cooked  again  in  the  home.  Oatmeal-gruel  and 
barley  soup  constituted  an  important  part  of  their 
dietary.  ...  A  cure  was  obtained  by  means  of 
codliver  oil,  though  in  almost  every  instance  breast 
milk  or  raw  cow's  milk  was  also  given." 

Though  what  is  now  to  be  stated  has  been  stated 
in  a  former  chapter,  I  shall  repeat  it  again,  for  it 
needs  a  number  of  repetitions :  one  vitamine  factor 
in  the  absence  of  the  other  vitamine  factor — or 
rather  factors,  as  we  shall  see — does  not  cure. 
Where,  as  in  the  above  examples,  we  speak  of  the 
fat-soluble  A  as  being  the  curative  agent,  we  imply 
that  water-soluble  B,  etc.,  is  also  present;  and  vice 
versa. 

And  again  I  must  emphasize  that  not  all  the 
vitamines  in  the  wide  world  are  of  any  use  if  the 
fuel  needs  of  the  body  are  not  satisfied ;  or  if  there 
is  not  a  well-balanced  distribution  of  fat,  protein, 
carbohydrate,  etc. 

Dr.  Hess's  Views.  If  I  have  referred  to  several 
investigators  in  European  countries  as  favoring 
the  view  that  rickets  is  a  vitamine  deficiency  dis- 
ease,— one  due  to  the  lack  of  fat-soluble  A — I  can- 
not overlook  the  work  of  a  prominent  American 
physician,  Dr.  Hess,  which  would  tend  to  modify 


VITAMINES  AND  RICKETS  135 

such  a  conclusion.  Dr.  Hess  reports  a  number  of 
cases  where  children  have  had  rickets  even  though 
their  diet  included  an  abundance  of  fat-soluble  A. 
And  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  noticed  perfectly 
normal  children  whose  diet  included  little  or  no 
fat-soluble  A.  Still  he  does  not  attempt  to  over- 
throw entirely  the  Funk-Mellanby  theory  of  the 
causation  of  rickets,  as  the  following  extract  from 
Dr.  Hess's  paper  shows:  "Our  experience  leads  us 
to  believe  that  except  under  exceptional  circum- 
stances— as  in  time  of  war — the  danger  to  the  in- 
fant and  to  the  child  from  a  deficiency  of  the  fat- 
soluble  factor  is  one  not  to  cause  great  apprehen- 
sion. It  is  true  that  this  principle  is  by  no  means 
so  widely  distributed  in  nature  as  the  water-solu- 
ble vitamine,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  infants  seem 
able  to  thrive  for  long  periods  on  very  limited 
quantities,  provided  the  diet  is  otherwise  complete. 
The  great  danger  arises  from  diets  composed  mere- 
ly of  cereal  and  water,  or  a  perhaps  insufficient 
amount  of  buttermilk  or  skimmed  milk.  It  is 
probably  true  that  a  catastrophe  will  result  if  the 
incomplete  diet  is  maintained  for  years,  or  even 
sooner  in  a  susceptible  individual,  as  is  well  known 
to  be  the  case  in  scurvy  and  beriberi.  In  formulat- 
ing dietaries  for  infants  and  children,  therefore, 
this  food  factor  should  be  borne  in  mind  and  be 
regarded  as  an  essential  constituent." 

The  last  sentence  is  really  the  one  that  matters. 
Though  by  no  means  certain  that  fat-soluble  A 
plays  as  important  a  part  in  rickets  as  water-solu- 
ble B  does  in  beriberi,  Dr.  Hess  does  not  advise 


1S6  VITAMINES 

that  tne  fat-soluble  vitamine  be  discarded.  In  the 
preparation  of  diets  for  infants  and  diets  for 
adults,  the  accumulated  researches  of  many  men  in 
many  countries  deserve  careful  consideration.  The 
consensus  of  opinion  is  that  fat-soluble  A  is  a  vital 
factor  in  health,  and  that  its  absence  in  a  diet  is 
one  of  the  causative  factors  in  the  development  of 
rickets. 

Distribution  of  Fat-Soluble  A.  Despite  its 
name,  fat-soluble  A  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
those  foods  that  are  usually  regarded  as  rich  in  fat. 
It  is  quite  abundant  in  the  vegetable  world.  Even 
the  tomato,  always  considered  one  of  the  poorest 
of  foods  from  the  point  of  view  of  calorific  value,  is 
quite  rich  in  fat-soluble  vitamine,  and  incidentally 
in  one  or  two  other  vitamines ;  so  that  the  oft-heard 
cry  that  buying  tomatoes  means  buying  little  more 
than  so  much  water,  is  very  far  from  the  truth. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY 

Scurvy  is  a  disease  that  was  common  enough 
at  one  time  among  sailors,  and  often  enough  breaks 
out  even  to-day  in  famine-stricken  districts.  The 
symptoms  may  best  be  described  by  quoting 
Stefanson,  the  explorer.  In  speaking  of  several 
members  of  his  arctic  crew  who  contracted  scurvy 
during  1916-1917,  he  says:  "Anderson  complained 
to  me  of  having  been  gradually  becoming  more  and 
more  unwell  for  a  week  or  two.  The  first  symptom 
noted  by  him  was  dizziness  on  suddenly  standing 
up,  'laziness,'  gloom  and  irritability,  showing  itself 
in  a  tendency  to  condemnatory  and  uncalled-for 
argumentativeness,  proneness  to  becoming  tired, 
and  loosening  of  the  teeth  and  a  swelling  and  re- 
cession of  the  gums,  with  a  dull  local  ache  in  the 
gums  or  roots  of  the  teeth.  The  appetite  was  nor- 
mal both  as  to  quality  and  kind  of  food  de- 
sired. .  .  .  Noice  had  become  unable  to  walk  and 
had  to  be  hauled  on  the  sleds;  Knight  was  able  to 
walk,  but  was  getting  weaker  and  more  wretch- 
ed. ...  At  this  time  the  teeth  of  the  men  were  so 
loose  that  they  could  be  plucked  out  with  the 
fingers  with  no  effort,  and  the  gums  were  of  such 

137 


138  VITAMINES 

a  cheese-like  consistency,  that  they  were  cut  (with 
little  bleeding)  by  wooden  toothpicks  about  as 
easily  as  ordinary  'American7  cheese  could  be. 
Every  joint  was  sore  and  all  movements  pain- 
ful. .  .  ."  The  spongy  condition  of  the  gums  and 
the  looseness  of  the  teeth  are  often  characteristic 
symptoms. 

This  disease,  so  common  among  sailors  in  days 
past  that  it  was  called  the  "calamity  of  sailors/7 
is  met  with  to-day  only  in  famine-stricken  coun- 
tries, or  among  children  living  on  a  restricted  diet. 
The  devastation  following  the  wake  of  the  Great 
War  has  brought  many  cases  of  scurvy  to  the  notice 
of  medical  men. 

Scurvy  a  Disease  Due  to  Vitamine  Deficiency. 
Whatever  doubt  there  may  be  regarding  the  rela- 
tionship of  vitamines  to  rickets,  there  is  no  doubt 
whatsoever  that  scurvy  is  a  disease  due  to  vitamine 
deficiency.  Dr.  Funk  was  among  the  first  to  ad- 
vocate such  a  view,  and  subsequent  work  by  many 
investigators  has  but  strengthened  it. 

Water-Soluble  C  Vitamine.  As  we  shall  show, 
the  vitamine,  the  absence  of  which  gives  rise  to 
scurvy,  is  neither  fat-soluble  A  nor  water-soluble 
B.  It  is  a  third  one  of  the  substances  belonging 
to  the  group  of  vitamines,  which  we  shall  call 
water-soluble  C  to  distinguish  it  from  the  other 
two.  Since  water-soluble  C  cures  scurvy,  it  is 
called  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine,  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  antineuritic  vitamine  which  cures  beri- 
beri, and  the  antirachitic  vitamine  which  is  prob- 
ably responsible  for  the  cure  of  rickets. 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  139 

For  experimental  purposes,  guinea  pigs  are  al- 
ways used  in  work  on  scurvy.  Eats  cannot  be 
used  since,  though  they  may  suffer  from  a  lack  of 
vitamine  C,  they  do  not  develop  scurvy.  You  will 
remember  that  in  studying  beriberi,  birds,  particu- 
larly pigeons,  were  found  useful.  Eats  can  also 
be  employed.  Dogs  can  be  used  in  experiments  on 
rickets. 

History  of  the  Disease.  The  history  of  scurvy 
has  elements  of  unusual  interest.  Chroniclers  tell 
us  how  it  attacked  the  Crusaders  while  in  Pales- 
tine, and  subsequent  historians  have  seldom  failed 
to  record  the  ravages  this  disease  wrought  in  the 
army  of  emperors.  But  one  of  the  earliest  de- 
tailed accounts  of  the  disease,  as  well  as  an  account 
of  how  to  cure  it,  is  to  be  found  in  the  descriptions 
by  Captain  Cook,  the  famous  voyager.  Writing  in 
the  London  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1776  on 
"The  Method  Taken  for  Preserving  the  Health  of 
the  Crew  of  His  Majesty's  Ship  the  'Resolution' 
During  Her  Late  Voyage  Round  the  World,"  Cap- 
tain Cook  says:  "We  came  to  few  places  where 
either  the  art  of  man  or  nature  did  not  afford  some 
sort  of  refreshment  or  other,  either  of  the  animal 
or  vegetable  kind.  It  was  my  first  care  to  procure 
what  could  be  met  with  of  either  by  every  means 
in  my  power,  and  to  oblige  our  people  to  make  use 
thereof,  both  by  my  example  and  authority;  but 
the  benefits  arising  from  such  refreshments  soon 
became  so  obvious,  that  I  had  little  occasion  to  em- 
ploy either  the  one  or  the  other."  This  emphasis 
on  fresh  food  strikes  at  the  very  heart  of  the  matter. 


140  VITAMINES 

Records  compiled  during  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence for  a  period  of  (P/>  years  show  that  tliere  had 
been  some  30,000  cases  of  scurvy,  about  400  of 
winch  ended  fatally.  The  cases  were  very  frequent 
where  the  ordinary  rations  were  supplemented  by 
dried  vegetables.  "At  posts  which  could  readily 
be  supplied  with  potatoes  only  the  taint  was  mani- 
fested." 

In  connection  with  the  use  of  potatoes  as  an 
antiscorbutic,  it  is  instructive  to  note  that  among 
the  Irish  peasants,  where  the  potato  is  the  main 
source  of  food,  scurvy  invariably  makes  its  appear- 
ance after  a  potato  famine. 

In  the  recent  war  outbreaks  of  scurvy  among  the 
civil  and  military  populations  were  quite  frequent. 
In  Italy  and  in  Russia,  and  even  in  France,  men 
and  women  and  children  became  alHicted.  Just  at 
present  Vienna  presents  a  pitiable  spectacle  of  the 
ravages  of  this  disease.  l»ut  scurvy  is  but  one  of 
several  diseases  from  which  the  under-fed  and 
badly-fed  Viennese  are  suffering. 

Infantile  &curi\i/.  Not  only  may  adults  be  at- 
tacked by  scurvy,  but  so  also  may  children.  In- 
faniifc  sriirri/  has  been  so  exhaustively  .investigated 
by  the  English  physician,  Sir  Thomas  Barlow,  thai 
it  is  commonly  known  as  "Barlow's  disease." 
Much  of  Barlow's  work  was  done  in  the  early 
eighties  of  the  last  century.  Apart  from  the  knowl- 
edge we  have  since  gleaned  that  the  causative  fac- 
tor in  scurvy  is  the  absence  of  the  antiscorbutic 
vitamine,  Sir  Thomas  Barlow's  description  of  the 
disease,  as  well  as  the  cure  for  it  which  he  sug- 


VITAMINRS  AND  SCURVY  141 

gested,  holds  as  good  today  as  it  did  forty  years 
ago.  In  one  of  his  earliest  papers  Dr.  Barlow 
points  out  that  "prolonged  deprivation  of  fresh 
vegetables  or  their  equivalent  is  (lie  most  constant 
fact  among  the  antecedents  of  the  disease;  and 
that  imrooked  meat  and  fresh  milk  are  antiscor- 
l)ii lie  just  like,  fresh  vegetables,  though  not  to  the 
same  degree.  The  further  we  get  from  a  living 
food  the  less  is  the  antiscorbutic  power.  ...  I 
suppose  it  will  ultimately  be  found  that  raw,  un- 
cooked milk  is  better  than  cooked  milk."  The  last 
sentence  is  truly  prophetic. 

Dr.  liarlow'ti  Trratmotit.  The  cases  of  infantile 
scurvy  that  Sir  Thomas  P.arlow  describes  are  those 
of  children  who  had  never  been  breast-fed,  but  had 
received  proprietary  infant  foods,  condensed  milk 
and  perhaps  a  little  fresh  milk.  Dr.  liarlow's 
trcatmen;  ronsisted  in  giving  ea»-h  such  child  plenty 
of  fresh  milk— a  full  pint  for  a  child  six  months 
old — sieved  potato  (in  the  place  of  the  proprietary 
food),  and  a  tablespoonful  of  orange  juice.  Strik- 
ing recoveries  were  made,  in  two  to  three  days. 

The  treatment  just  outlined  cannot  be  improved 
upon  to-day.  Sir  Thomas  Barlow's  account  of  the 
disease,  as  well  as  his  treatment  of  it,  is  a  most 
complete  clinical  picture.  What  we  do  know  to- 
day that,  Ilarlow  did  not  know  in  the  eighties,  is 
that  the  foods  that  benefit  the  sufferer  are  rich  in 
vitamine  (!. 

Sir  Thomas  Ba How's  opinion  that  the  disease  is 
intimately  related  to  the  type  of  food  eaten  has 
not  gone  unchallenged,  despite  the  amazing  results 


VITAMINES 

which  he  obtained  with  his  treatment  of  the  disease. 
Russian  physicians  in  particular  were — and  some 
still  are — of  the  opinion  that  scurvy  is  the  result  of 
an  infection.  We  have  heard  a  similar  story  re- 
garding rickets.  It  is  so  easy  to  regard  each  dis- 
tinct disease  as  being  due  to  a  specific  bacterium; 
and  physicians,  being  mortal,  and  being  impressed 
by  the  wonderful  advances  made  by  the  science  of 
bacteriology,  are  sometimes  apt  to  lose  all  sense  of 
perspective,  and  ascribe  to  bacteria  the  sum  total 
of  human  suffering.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
neither  in  rickets  nor  in  scurvy  has  any  micro- 
organism in  any  way  related  to  these  diseases  been 
isolated.  Where  infection  has  arisen  it  could  be 
ascribed  to  secondary  causes  just  as  easily;  to 
the  generally  lowered  resistance  of  the  body,  for 
example. 

Recently  (March,  1920)  Drs.  Givens  and  Hoff- 
mann, of  the  Western  Pennsylvania  Hospital, 
Pittsburgh,  have  presented  the  most  convincing  evi- 
dence yet  advanced  against  the  bacteriological 
hypothesis.  Blood  from  scorbutic  animals,  regard- 
less of  the  diet  producing  the  disease,  has  been 
found  to  be  sterile.  "The  enlarged  front  joints 
of  guinea-pigs  developing  scurvy  on  oats  alone 
were  sterile ;  this  was  likewise  true  in  the  majority 
of  cases  of  guinea-pigs  developing  scurvy  on  other 
special  diets.  Occasionally  staphylococci  wera 
isolated,  but  these  could  not  be  made  to  product 
scurvy  when  introduced  into  healthy  guinea-pigs." 

Equally  unsatisfactory  and  vague  is  the  hypothe- 
sis that  the  disease  originates  from  some  toxic 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  143 

materials  in  the  food.  What  these  toxic  materials 
are  no  one  has  the  remotest  idea. 

The  contention  by  Dr.  McCollum  that  the  cura- 
tive value  of  antiscorbutic  foods  is  merely  due  to 
their  laxative  properties,  and  that  such  foods  are 
indeed  interchangeable  with  such  laxatives  as 
liquid  petrolatum  and  phenolphthalein,  has  been 
disproved,  and  I  understand  that  Dr.  McCollum 
himself  no  longer  believes  it.  In  his  book  on  The 
Newer  Knowledge  of  Nutrition,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1918,  Professor  McCollum  says  (page  97)  : 
"McCollum  and  Pitz  found  in  the  guinea-pigs 
which  had  died  of  scurvy,  that  the  cecum,  which 
is  a  very  large  and  very  delicate  pouch  through 
which  the  food  must  pass  in  going  from  the  small 
to  the  large  intestine,  was  always  packed  with  pu- 
trefying feces.  They  decided  that  the  mechanical 
difficulty  which  the  animals  have  in  the  removal  of 
feces  of  an  unfavorable  character  from  this  part  of 
the  digestive  tract  was  in  some  way  related  with 
the  development  of  the  disease. 

"That  this  assumption  was  correct,  was  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  administration  of  liquid  petro- 
latum, a  'mineral'  product  to  which  no  food  value 
can  possibly  be  attributed,  served  to  relieve  a  cer- 
tain number  of  animals  after  they  were  near  death 
from  the  disease,  while  confined  strictly  to  the  diet 
of  oats  and  milk  which  caused  them  to  develop 
scurvy.  The  explanation  which  they  offered  was 
that  liquid  petrolatum  served  to  improve  the  phys- 
ical properties  of  the  contents  of  the  packed  cecum, 
and  thus  enable  the  animals  to  rid  themselves  of 


144  VITAMINES 

this  mass  which  was  undergoing  putrefactive  de- 
composition." 

As  has  already  been  stated,  Dr.  McCollum  him- 
self no  longer  shares  these  views.  The  criticism 
of  his  experiments  centers  around  the  quantity  of 
milk  he  used.  Milk  itself  contains  water-soluble 
O,  but  not  in  very  large  quantity.  If  enough  milk 
is  given,  or  still  better,  if  the  milk  is  not  heated 
under  certain  specified  conditions  whereby  the 
water-soluble  C  is  destroyed,  the  milk  itself  will 
act  as  a  cure. 

An  Experiment  to  Show  that  Scurvy  is  a  Disease 
Due  to  Lack  of  Water-Soluble  C  Vitamine.  The 
postulate  of  vitamine  deficiency  fits  the  case  of 
scurvy  very  well.  Consider  an  experiment  of  this 
kind.  You  feed  guinea-pigs*  with  a  mixture  of 
soy  bean  flour,  whole  milk,  dried  yeast,  paper  pulp 
and  mineral  salts.  The  guinea-pigs  develop  scurvy. 
You  next  add  a  little  orange  juice  to  the  diet  and 
scurvy  rapidly  disappears.  The  amount  of  orange 
juice  added  could  have  made  no  material  differ- 
ence in  the  calorific  value  of  the  food ;  nor  could  it 
have  supplied  any  necessary  amino-acid  constitu- 
ents. The  flour  and  milk  and  yeast  are  rich  in 
protein,  fat  and  carbohydrate.  The  yeast  supplies 
the  water-soluble  B  or  antineuritic  factor;  the 
milk,  the  fat-soluble  A  or  antirachitic  factor.  Both 
of  the  two  vitamines  with  which  we  have  familiar- 
ized ourselves  are  present  in  the  food  supplied  to 
the  guinea-pigs.  Evidently  there  is  some  other 

*We  owe  to  Axel  Hoist  the  discovery  that  the  guinea-pig  can 
develop  scurvy. 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  145 

factor  necessary  which  only  the  addition  of  the 
orange  juice  to  the  diet  supplies.  This  other  fac- 
tor, present  in  orange  juice  and  in  other  fruits  and 
vegetables,  is  the  water-soluble  C  vitamine,  or  the 
antiscorbutic  vitamine. 

But  you  may  say  this  still  does  not  sound  very 
convincing.  Milk  is  the  sole  food  of  infants,  yet 
according  to  your  account  milk  contains  no  anti- 
scorbutic. As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  does  contain  a 
little,  but  not  enough;  and  where  the  quantity  of 
milk  is  cut  down  to  give  place  to  other  foods — as 
in  the  diet  of  the  guinea-pigs  just  cited — the  defi- 
ciency of  water-soluble  C  becomes  apparent.  And 
indeed  even  where  milk  is  the  sole  source  of  food, 
the  tendency  among  physicians  nowadays  is  to 
recommend  the  addition  of  orange  juice  two  or 
three  months  after  birth. 

In  this  connection  the  clinical  experiences  of 
Drs.  Hess  and  Fish  are  instructive.  Early  in  1914 
an  outbreak  of  infantile  scurvy  occurred  in  the 
Hebrew  Orphan  Asylum,  New  York.  The  infants 
afflicted  had  been  fed  for  several  months  upon  a 
diet  of  cow's  milk  which  had  previously  been  heated 
to  145  degrees  (Fahrenheit)  for  30  minutes.  No 
orange  juice  was  included  in  the  diet,  because  two 
years  earlier  a  Medical  Milk  Commission  had  de- 
clared that  for  purposes  of  infant  feeding,  heated 
milk  was  fully  the  equivalent  of  raw  milk.  De- 
spite the  conclusion  of  this  Commission,  Dr.  Hess 
recommended  the  addition  of  orange  juice  to  the 
diet.  The  scorbutic  symptoms  cleared  up  rapidly. 

A  diet  even  more  frequently  employed  than  the 


146  VITAMINES 

above  to  produce  scurvy  in  animals  consists  of 
oats,  bran  and  milk  that  has  been  heated  under 
carefully  regulated  conditions.  Both  fat-soluble 
A  and  water-soluble  B  are  present  in  such  a  mix- 
ture, yet  the  animal  develops  scurvy.*  Even  large 
additions  of  butter  fat  or  yeast  to  the  diet  has  no 
effect  whatsoever,  showing  that  the  scurvy  is  not 
due  to  a  deficiency  in  fat-soluble  A  and  water-solu- 
ble B  vit amines.  But  the  addition  of  a  little  or- 
ange juice  immediately  brings  about  a  cure. 

By  developing  scurvy  in  guinea-pigs  and  then 
trying  the  effect  of  the  addition  of  various  food- 
stuffs, we  can  determine  which  foods  are  anti- 
scorbutic. In  this  way  it  has  been  shown  that  not 
only  the  orange,  but  all  fruit  juices  contain  the 
water-soluble  C  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  So  do 
fresh  vegetables — cabbage,  lettuce,  potatoes,  car- 
rots and  fresh  meat.  Milk,  as  we  have  stated,  is 
not  very  rich  in  this  vitamine ;  nor  are  dried  vege- 
tables. The  cereal  grains  show  almost  an  entire 
absence  of  it;  so  does  heated  or  dried  milk.  The 
importance  of  adding  orange  juice  to  an  infant's 
food  consisting  of  dried  milk  now  becomes  evident. 

Even  where  two  or  more  vitamines  are  present 
in  one  food,  the  facts  of  the  case  are  not  as  a  rule 
altered.  For  example,  experiments  have  shown 
that  a  diet  in  which  clover  or  alfalfa  is  present  to 
the  extent  of  5  per  cent  will  supply  the  necessary 

* ' '  I  regard  the  work  of  Givens  and  Cohen  from  my  laboratory 
as  most  convincing  because  they  used  diets  containing  vitamine 
A,  B,  roughage,  and  good  protein,  and  still  secured  scurvy.7' 
(Professor  Mendel.) 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  147 

quantity  of  fat-soluble  A  and  induce  growth  in 
rats.  If  these  vegetables  are  present  to  the  extent 
of  15  per  cent  they  will  cure  beriberi.  The  vege- 
tables contain  fat-soluble  A  and  water-soluble  B, 
but  in  different  proportions.  Orange  juice,  so 
valuable  as  an  antiscorbutic,  also  contains  appre- 
ciable quantities  of  the  antineuritic  vitamine  that 
cures  beriberi.  The  addition  of  orange  juice  to  a 
child's  diet,  and  its  inclusion  by  the  adult,  serves, 
therefore,  more  than  one  purpose. 

Dr.  Seidell,  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Hygiene, 
and  Dr.  Harden,  of  the  Lister  Institute,  London, 
have  shown  how  by  the  use  of  "Fuller's  earth,"  a 
common  laboratory  chemical,  and  other  substances 
closely  related  to  it,  the  antineuritic  vitamine  in 
orange  juice  can  be  completely  removed,  leaving 
only  the  antiscorbutic. 

Note  how  such  an  experiment  can  be  carried  out. 
Your  orange  juice  in  sufficient  quantities  cures 
scurvy  and  cures  beriberi,  which  means  that  the 
orange  contains  both  vitamines  responsible  for 
such  cures.  You  now  mix  your  orange  juice  with 
"Fuller's  earth"  and  shake.  You  next  withdraw 
the  "Fuller's  earth"  and  you  find  that  it  has  ac- 
quired the  property  of  curing  beriberi,  but  not 
scurvy.  Before  mixing  the  orange  juice  with 
"Fuller's  earth"  the  latter  cured  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  disease.  "Fuller's  earth,"  by  being 
mixed  with  orange  juice,  must  have  absorbed  the 
antineuritic  vitamine.  The  solution  that  is  left 
after  the  "Fuller's  earth"  has  been  removed  has 


148  VITAMINES 

the  power  of  curing  scurvy,  but  not  beriberi. 
Hence  we  conclude  that  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine 
has  not  been  removed  by  the  chemical. 

By  the  means  outlined,  any  confusing  results 
that  might  be  obtained  from  the  presence  of  more 
than  one  vitamine  in  the  food  is  eliminated.  For 
ordinary  purposes,  however,  foods  containing  more 
than  one  vitamine  are  no  drawback.  We  may  cer- 
tainly feel  thankful  that  most  of  our  foods  do  con- 
tain more  than  one  vitamine. 

Scurvy  at  the  Siege  of  Kut.  How  specific  in 
behavior  these  vitamines  are  may  be  illustrated  in 
an  account  taken  from  the  siege  of  Kut.  For  four 
months,  from  December,  1915  to  April,  1916,  Brit- 
ish and  Indian  troops  were  besieged  by  the  Turks. 
During  this  period  the  food  of  the  Britishers  con- 
sisted of  white  flour  or  biscuits,  tinned  meats  and 
horse  flesh.  The  Indians  refused  to  eat  fresh  meat 
(horse  flesh),  but  ate  ata  or  barley  flour  instead. 
The  Indians  developed  scurvy  and  the  British  beri- 
beri. Why?  The  nature  of  the  cereal  diet  (rich 
in  water-soluble  B)  protected  the  Indian  troops 
from  beriberi,  but  not  from  scurvy.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fresh  meat  the  British  troops  ate  pro- 
tected them  from  scurvy,  for  the  meat  contained 
water-soluble  C,  but  there  was  nothing  in  their 
diet  to  supply  the  water-soluble  B.  The  white 
flour  and  biscuits  are  practically  free  from  water- 
soluble  B. 

Scurvy  in  Northern  Russia.  In  the  northern 
parts  of  Russia  scurvy  makes  its  appearance  quite 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  149 

regularly  every  year;  yet  the  Allied  troops  sent 
to  support  the  Anti-Bolsheviks  were  quite  free  from 
it.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment allowed  itself  to  be  guided,  in  its  choice 
of  food  for  soldiers,  by  the  British  leaders  in  nutri- 
tion. Professors  Bayliss  and  Starling  and  Hop- 
kins and  Harden  and  Miss  Chick  have  all  been 
able  exponents  of  the  vitamine  hypothesis.  On 
their  advice  the  Allied  soldiers  in  Russia  were  al- 
lowed liberal  amounts  of  such  foods  as  soured  milk, 
fresh  meat,  fresh  lemon  juice,  etc.  The  results 
amply  confirmed  the  claim  made  that  scurvy  is  a 
deficiency  disease  due  to  the  absence  of  one  of  the 
necessary  vitamines. 

Stefdnson's  Experiences  in  the  Arctic.  Stefan- 
son's  polar  expedition,  to  which  reference  has  al- 
ready been  made,  has  also  presented  striking  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  the  vitamine  hypothesis  to  explain 
scurvy.  All  foods  rich  in  water-soluble  C,  all 
foods  that  cure  scurvy  in  animals,  proved  excellent 
antiscorbutics  when  used  on  his  arctic  expedition. 
Stefanson's  emphasis  of  fresh  food  also  confirms 
the  experiments  of  many  investigators  that  desic- 
cated or  preserved  or  heated  foods  lose  much  of 
their  potency. 

The  loss  in  antiscorbutic  value  of  canned  food 
was  strikingly  shown  in  some  work  by  Miss  Chick, 
of  the  Lister  Institute,  London.  Heating  cabbage 
or  beans  for  one  hour  at  a  temperature  close  to 
that  of  boiling  water  decreased  the  anti-scorbutic 
value  by  70  per  cent;  and  canning  involves  such  a 


150  VITAMINES 

heating  operation.  Heated  milk  also  loses  its  anti- 
scorbutic quality.  Even  storage  alone  seems  to 
have  a  deteriorating  effect. 

It  should,  however,  be  added  that  different  anti- 
scorbutic foods  do  show  different  heat-resisting 
power.  The  antiscorbutic  in  orange  juice  seems 
to  resist  increases  of  temperature  much  better  than 
any  of  the  antiscorbutics  in  other  foods. 

Stef anson's  conclusions  are  worth  quoting :  "The 
strongest  antiscorbutic  qualities  reside  in  certain 
fresh  foods  and  diminish  or  disappear  with  storage 
by  any  of  the  common  methods  of  preservation — 
canning,  pickling,  drying,  etc.  Fresh  tomatoes 
may  be  of  value — I  have  never  tried  them* — but 
canned  tomatoes  are  of  little  or  no  value;  fresh 
potatoes  are  good,  but  desiccated  potatoes  have 
shown  little  or  no  adequacy  in  our  expedi- 
tion. .  .  .  The  juice  just  expressed  from  fresh  lime 
is  said  to  be  excellent,  and  I  have  no  reason  to 
doubt  it;  but  bottled  lime  juice  has  never  yet  pre- 
vented scurvy.  .  .  .  Cooking  lessens  or  destroys 
the  value  of  most  or  all  foods.  .  .  .  Bodily  cleanli- 
ness and  ventilation  are  not  by  any  facts  known 
to  me  shown  to  have  any  bearing  on  the  incidence 
or  severity  of  scurvy.  Here  it  is  instructive  to 
compare  the  filth  and  good  health  of  Nansen  and 
Johansen,  as  described  in  Farthest  North,  with  the 
immaculate  Scott  expeditions  with  their  numerous 
and  serious  scurvy  cases." 

The  last  sentence  is  instructive,  but  it  needs 
amplification  to  prevent  it  from  being  misleading. 

*  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  are. 


VITAMINES  AND  SCURVY  151 

Filth  may  bring  on  disease,  but  that  disease  will 
not  be  scurvy.  The  diseases  due  to  filth  are  usually 
of  bacteriological  origin ;  but  scurvy  is  not  a  disease 
due  to  bacteria;  scurvy  is  not  due  to  an  infection. 

The  Value  of  Fruit  and  Vegetables.  This  and 
preceding  chapters  bring  to  light  new  values  of 
fruits  and  vegetables.  Aside  from  their  agreeable 
taste  and  appetizing  character,  and  aside  altogether 
from  their  mineral  content,  which  certainly  should 
not  be  minimized,  the  fruits  and  vegetables  supply 
very  necessary  constituents  to  the  diet.  The  dele- 
terious effect  on  the  vitamine  efficiency  of  canned 
and  dried  foods  is  unfortunate.  Utilization  to  the 
maximum  degree  of  our  foods  is  imperative,  and 
canning  and  drying  help  this  considerably.  The 
value  of  drying  is  still  further  enhanced  by  the 
way  the  weight  and  bulk  of  the  material  is  less- 
ened; in  most  cases  the  reduction  may  amount 
to  from  50  to  90  per  cent,  a  factor  important 
enough  in  the  matter  of  storage  and  transportation. 

Canning  and  drying  we  must  have,  and  canned 
and  dried  foods  we  must  use.  But  until  improved 
methods  of  preserving  foods  are  invented,  whereby 
the  vitamine  efficiency  of  such  foods  will  not  suffer 
diminution,  we  must  supplement  our  diet  with 
fresh  fruit  and  fresh  vegetables,  and,  in  general, 
as  many  fresh  foodstuffs  as  possible.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  attempted  preparation  of  stable  vitamine 
products  by  Dr.  Harden  and  others  deserves  much 
encouragement. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
Miss  Chick,  of  the  Lister  Institute,  has  found  that 


152  VITAMINES 

though  dry  beans  contain  little  or  no  water-soluble 
C,  these  same  beans,  when  allowed  to  sprout,  do.* 
This  discovery  was  used  to  advantage  in  the  later 
stages  of  the  Great  War. 

*  This  was  first  observed  by  Dr.  Fiirst  in  1912. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

VITAMINES  AND  PELLAGRA 

We  no  longer  have  any  doubt  that  beriberi  and 
scurvy  are  diseases  due  to  vitamine  deficiency.  We 
still  have  some  doubts  regarding  rickets;  but  the 
doubt  here  is  not  so  much  whether  rickets  results 
from  a  deficiency  of  fat-soluble  A,  but  rather  to 
what  extent  is  fat-soluble  A  necessary  to  prevent 
rickets?  Even  Dr.  Hess,  the  opposition  champion, 
does  not  deny  that  the  presence  of  fat-soluble  A 
in  the  diet  is  important;  he  simply  questions 
whether  this  vitamine  alone  is  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  disease ;  whether  there  are  not  other  factors. 

Pellagra  is  another  one  of  those  diseases  that  are 
due  to  nutritional  deficiencies.  As  with  rickets, 
we  cannot  as  yet  say  very  definitely  that  pellagra 
is  due  to  the  absence  of  one  specific  vitamine.  The 
work  of  Dr.  Goldberger,  of  the  U.  S.  Public  Health 
Service,  points  to  a  combination  of  causes,  of 
which  vitamine  deficiency  is  one.  The  other  causes 
may  be  due  to  deficiencies  in  the  ammo-acid  con- 
tent of  the  proteins,  and  deficiencies  in  the  mineral 
salts. 

Pellagra  in  the  South.  During  the  last  twenty 
years  the  southern  part  of  the  United  States  has 

153 


VITAMINES 

had  no  less  than  500,000  cases  of  pellagra,  and  ten 
per  cent  of  these  have  ended  fatally.  It  is  a  disease 
which  at  one  time  was  regarded  as  being  confined 
exclusively  to  the  poorer  classes,  but  now  we  know 
that  even  the  well-to-do  may  be  sufferers;  for  the 
disease  is  due  to  an  unbalanced  diet,  not  merely  to 
a  poor  diet.  Of  course  it  is  also  true  to  say  that 
the  greater  percentage  of  pellagra  patients  come 
from  the  poorer  classes,  for  even  the  rich  who 
are  foolish  indulge  in  a  great  variety  of  dishes,  so 
that  the  possibility  of  vital  deficiencies  in  any  one 
necessary  constituent  are  lessened. 

Symptoms.  The  symptoms  in  pellagra  may  be 
described  in  the  words  of  our  best-known  pellagra 
specialist  in  this  country,  Dr.  Goldberger: 

"In  a  fairly  well-developed  though  not  advanced 
case  the  disease  shows  itself  by  a  variety  of  symp- 
toms, of  which  weakness,  nervousness,  indigestion, 
and  an  eruption  form  the  most  distinctive  combina- 
tion. 

"The  eruption  is  the  most  characteristic  telltale 
of  the  disease  and  the  main  reliance  in  recognition. 
When  the  eruption  first  shows  itself  it  may  look 
very  much  like  a  sunburn,  the  deceptive  resem- 
blance to  which  may,  in  some  cases,  be  heightened 
by  the  subsequent  peeling  with  or  without  the  for- 
mation of  blisters.  In  many  cases  the  inflamed- 
looking  skin  first  turns  to  a  dirty  brown,  frequently 
parchment-like,  then  quickly  becomes  rough  and 
scaly,  or  cracks  and  peels.  In  many  instances  the 
redness  is  not  noticed  or  does  not  occur,  the  first 
and  perhaps  the  only  thing  observed  being  the 


VITAMINES  AND  PELLAGRA  155 

dirty  looking  scaly  patch  of  skin  very  much  like 
and  frequently  thought  to  be  no  more  than  a  simple 
weathering  or  chapping. 

"Among  the  most  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the 
eruption  is  its  preference  for  certain  parts  of  the 
body  surface.  The  backs  of  the  hands  in  adults 
and  the  backs  of  the  feet  in  children  are  its  favorite 
sites.  Other  parts  not  infrequently  attacked  are 
the  sides  or  front  of  the  neck  or  both,  the  face, 
elbows,  and  knees.  From  these  or  other  points, 
for  it  may  attack  any  part  of  the  body,  it  may 
spread  to  a  varying  degree.  Another  marked  pecu- 
liarity of  the  eruption  is  its  tendency  to  appear  at 
about  the  same  time,  and  to  cover  similar  areas, 
both  as  to  extent  and  peculiarities  of  outline,  on 
both  sides  of  the  body.  Thus  it  may  be  stated  as 
the  rule  that  if  the  back  of  one  foot,  one  elbow, 
one  knee,  one  side  of  the  neck,  one  cheek,  or  the 
lid  of  one  eye  is  affected,  then  the  corresponding 
part  on  the  other  side  of  the  body  is  affected,  and 
affected  to  almost  the  same  extent.  This  rule, 
however,  is  not  without  many  exceptions." 

Like  the  other  diseases  that  we  have  discussed, 
pellagra  has  had  its  "infection  theory"  enthusiasts. 
There  was  some  reason  for  such  belief  some  ten 
years  ago  when  it  was  noticed  how  rapidly  it  spread 
from  place  to  place.  But  such  a  theory  has  now 
been  thoroughly  disproved.  No  pellagra  germ  has 
ever  been  isolated.  All  attempts  to  give  persons 
pellagra  by  inoculating  them  with  the  blood  or 
saliva  of  pellagra  sufferers  have  failed.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  difficulties  whatsoever  were  en- 


156  VITAMINES 

countered  in  curing  patients  by  merely  changing 
their  diet,  even  though  their  surroundings  were 
filthy  in  the  extreme. 

The  Diet  a  Factor  in  Pellagra.  Dr.  Goldberger 
supplies  us  with  several  instructive  examples.  In 
an  asylum  which  he  investigated  and  which  was 
surprisingly  full  of  pellagra  patients,  the  doctor 
noticed  that  the  disease  was  confined  to  the  inmates 
only;  the  doctors  and  nurses  showed  not  a  trace. 
Upon  a  careful  investigation  of  the  foods  consumed, 
he  found  that  the  staff  was  abundantly  supplied 
with  meat  and  milk,  whereas  the  inmates  received 
but  little  of  these  precious  foods.  Dr.  Goldberger 
thereupon  added  meat  and  milk  to  the  diet  of  the 
inmates,  and  pellagra  disappeared  as  if  by  magic. 

Dr.  Goldberger  had  similar  experiences  in  three 
orphanages.  In  all  of  them  pellagra  made  its  ap- 
pearance periodically,  and  many  of  the  children 
suffered  acutely  from  it.  Here  also  the  disease  dis* 
appeared  with  the  introduction  of  an  improved 
menu. 

And  just  as  pellagra  can  be  cured  by  changing 
the  diet,  so  can  it  be  deliberately  induced  by  a  one- 
sided diet.  Eleven  convicts  who  had  volunteered 
for  the  experiment  were  given  a  diet  consisting 
chiefly  of  biscuits,  corn  bread,  grits,  rice,  gravy  and 
syrup,  with  only  a  few  vegetables  and  no  milk, 
meat,  or  fruit.  Six  of  the  convicts  developed  pel- 
lagra. 

Pellagra  Outbreak  in  Egypt  in  1918.  All  of 
these  experiences  in  our  own  country  merely  typify 
experiences  elsewhere.  An  instructive  example  was 


VITAMINES  AND  PELLAGRA  157 

the  pellagra  outbreak  in  Egypt  in  1918.  Thousands 
of  Turkish  and  German  prisoners  were  brought 
there  and  placed  in  concentration  camps.  Pellagra 
outbreaks  were  frequent  and  many,  but  the  British 
doctors  soon  noticed  that  most  of  the  pellagra  suf- 
ferers were  Turks ;  in  fact,  90  per  cent  of  the  total 
were.  Then  the  fact  was  brought  out  that  for 
months  past  the  Turks  had  received  but  two-thirds 
of  their  normal  ration,  which,  even  under  the  best 
of  conditions,  compared  unfavorably  with  the  ra- 
tions allowed  German  or  Allied  soldiers.  Their 
German  general  had  reported  that  his  Turkish  sol- 
diers were  suffering  from  "long  continued  under- 
nutrition."  Increased  food  allowances,  and  more 
particularly,  a  more  carefully  balanced  diet,  soon 
improved  the  pellagra  sufferers.  And  particularly 
instructive  as  throwing  doubts  on  the  infection 
theory  was  the  observation  how  nearly  immune  to 
this  disease  were  the  German  prisoners;  and  this, 
despite  campaigning  and  living  with  the  Turks. 

Pellagra  Studies  ty  Officers  of  the  U.  8.  Public 
Health  Service.  But  if  an  improved,  or  still  bet- 
ter, a  well-balanced  diet  prevents  pellagra,  what 
factor  or  factors  are  of  importance?  We  can  an- 
swer this  fairly  accurately  by  examining  the  ex- 
haustive report  of  the  U.  S.  Public  Health  Service 
entitled,  "A  Study  of  the  Diet  of  Non-Pellagrous 
and  Pellagrous  Households  in  Textile  Mill  Com- 
munities in  South  Carolina  in  1916,"  the  authors 
being  Drs.  Joseph  Goldberger,  G.  A.  Wheeler  and 
Edgar  Sydenstricker,  Surgeon,  Assistant  Surgeon 
and  Statistician,  respectively,  of  the  Service. 


158  VITAMINES 

Seven  villages  in  the  northwestern  part  of  South 
Carolina,  each  containing  not  more  than  800  and 
not  fewer  than  500  inhabitants,  were  selected  for 
study.  Only  white  mill  operators  were  considered ; 
none  of  the  families  of  mill  officials,  store  managers 
and  negro  employees  were  included.  A  systematic 
search  of  pellagra  cases  was  made  from  house  to 
house.  A  careful  survey  of  foods  eaten  by  non- 
pellagrous  and  pellagrous  households  was  made. 
This  included  a  very  elaborate  social  and  economic 
program,  for  which  Mr.  Sydenstricker  was  particu- 
larly responsible.  In  all,  the  records  of  the  food 
supply  of  798  households,  with  an  aggregate  popu- 
lation of  4399  individuals,  were  obtained. 

We  shall  now  summarize  the  most  characteristic 
portions  of  this  report.  One  of  its  outstanding 
features  was  to  show  that  protein  consumed  in 
non-pellagrous  households  included  a  greater  pro- 
portion derived  from  animal  foods,  and  a  lesser 
proportion  derived  from  cereals  and,  in  general, 
vegetable  foods,  than  in  pellagrous  families.  We 
have  but  to  return  to  the  work  of  Professors  Os- 
borne  and  Mendel  on  amino-acids  to  draw  the 
necessary  inference.  Proteins  derived  from  vege- 
table sources  are,  on  the  whole,  poorer  in  certain 
essential  amino-acids  than  those  derived  from  ani- 
mal sources.  The  pellagrous  households,  therefore, 
have  suffered  from  an  insufficient  supply  of  certain 
amino-acids.  According  to  Professor  Chittenden 
and  Dr.  Hindhede's  standards,  the  protein  require- 
ments of  the  pellagrous  part  of  the  population  were 


VITAMINES  AND  PELLAGRA  159 

more  than  met ;  the  disease  could  hardly  have  been 
due  to  a  mere  deficiency  of  protein. 

In  the  non-pellagrous  households  the  consump- 
tion of  lean  meat,  milk,  butter,  cheese  and  eggs 
was  greater  than  in  the  households  with  pellagra 
sufferers.  Notice  in  this  list  the  foods  man  has 
relished  for  ages  past.  All  of  them  are  rich  in 
proteins,  which  in  turn  are  rich  in  the  essential 
amino-acids.  In  proportion  to  the  non-pellagrous 
households,  the  sufferers  consumed  but  small  quan- 
tities of  milk;  and  this  makes  it  probable  that  the 
quantity  and  variety  of  mineral  constituents  in 
the  diet  were  deficient. 

But  of  extreme  interest  to  us  is  the  fact  that  a 
decreased  consumption  of  milk,  meat,  cheese  and 
eggs  means  a  decreased  supply  of  the  all-important 
vitamines;  at  least,  a  decreased  supply  of  fat-solu- 
ble A  and  water-soluble  B. 

"The  indications  afforded  by  this  study  would 
seem  very  clearly  to  suggest  that  the  pellagra- 
producing  dietary  fault  is  the  result  of  some  one, 
or,  more  probably,  of  a  combination  of  two  or  more 
factors:  1.  A  physically  defective  protein  supply 
— that  is — a  defective  amino-acid  supply ;  2.  A  low 
or  inadequate  supply  of  fat-soluble  vitamine;  3.  A 
low  or  inadequate  supply  of  water-soluble  vita- 
mine  ;  4.  A  defective  mineral  supply.  .  .  .  The  pel- 
lagra producing  dietary  fault  may  be  corrected  and 
the  disease  prevented  by  including  in  the  diet  an 
adequate  supply  of  the  animal  protein  foods." 

This  disease,  viz.,  pellagra,  illustrates  excellently 


160  VITAMINES 

how,  despite  a  sufficient  number  of  calories,  and 
despite  a  sufficient  quantity  of  protein,  the  food 
may  still  be  highly  unsatisfactory.* 

*  At  Yale  University  Professors  Mendel  and  Underbill  are  now 
using  the  dog  to  study  pellagra-like  disease. 


CHAPTER 

SUMMARY.      PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS 

Instinct  and  experience  combined  guided  us  in 
our  choice  of  food  long  before  there  was  anything 
like  a  science  of  nutrition.  The  studies  of  our 
generation  have  confirmed  what  instinct  and  ex- 
perience had  taught  us.  But  these  studies  have 
done  more  than  that.  They  have  in  the  first  place 
supplied  us  with  answers  to  the  questions,  why 
have  we  selected  the  substances  we  call  food  as 
material  fit  for  body  consumption?  and  why  are 
some  foods  preferred  to  others?  But  aside  from 
supplying  us  with  a  raison  d'etre,  studies  in  the 
science  of  nutrition  are  helping  to  avert  the  food 
famine  which  in  these  days  constantly  hovers  over 
us.  In  days  past  a  comparative  abundance  of  food 
supply  enabled  the  individual  to  be  prodigal  with 
his  produce.  He  ate  much  of  many  things.  He 
ate  more  than  he  actually  needed,  and  so  assured 
himself  a  minimum  quantity  of  certain  essentials. 

What  these  essentials  were  the  man  of  the  past 
did  not  know.  Eating  much,  and  eating  a  variety 
of  things,  he  usually  obtained  the  necessary  ele- 
ments in  his  food;  but  he  also  ate  much  that  was 
not  necessary.  Or  sometimes,  despite  abundance, 
he  indulged  in  a  one-sided  diet,  which  led  to  many 

161 


162  VIT  AMINES 

diseases  of  which  he  and  his  offspring  were  victims. 
But  to-day,  with  our  limited  food  supply,  we  can 
no  longer  afford  to  be  prodigal.  Unless  the  essen- 
tial factors  in  diet  are  known,  and  unless  such 
knowledge  is  put  into  practice,  we  shall  suffer  from 
deficiency  diseases  even  more  than  our  forefathers. 
Fortunately,  the  science  of  nutrition  has  reached 
that  stage  where  we  can  point  out,  with  no  little 
certainty,  many  if  not  all  the  essential  factors  in 
food.  Such  knowledge,  combined  with  progress  in 
the  manufacture  of  artificial  fertilizers,  and  in  the 
manufacture  by  the  chemist  of  artificial  foods,  will 
in  time  decrease  the  percentage  of  unfit  among  us. 
No  longer  will  it  be  necessary  to  record  that  20  per 
cent  of  our  school  children  suffer  from  malnutri- 
tion, and  that  25  per  cent  of  the  country's  manhood 
are  physically  unfit.*  And  remember  that  these 
figures  refer  to  the  richest  and  most  prosperous 
country  in  the  world. 

Calories.  We  have  discussed  the  fuel  needs 
of  the  body  in  terms  of  calories,  the  calorie  being 
a  unit  used  to  measure  heat ;  and  we  have  seen  that 
the  adult  needs  from  2500  to  4500  calories  per 
day,  depending  upon  the  type  of  work  he  does. 
Women  need  somewhat  less,  and  the  need  of  chil- 
dren is  in  proportion  to  their  age. 

Proteins,  fats  and  carbohydrates.     But  we  can- 

*I,  of  course,  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  mothers  are  not 
always  ignorant,  nor  are  they  always  careless;  and  that  a  fair 
proportion  of  malnutrition  cases  is  due  to  actual  want  in  the  fam- 
ily. The  food  expert  can  do  little  without  the  help  of  the  social 
reformer. 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS     163 

not  make  the  sweeping  statement  that  any  food 
which  when  taken  in  the  body  will  burn  to 
yield  the  necessary  calories,  is  a  satisfactory  food ; 
for  a  satisfactory  diet  means  more  than  merely 
satisfying  fuel  needs.  We  need  protein  for  the  con- 
struction and  repair  of  cellular  tissue;  and  of  the 
three  classes  of  foodstuffs,  protein  alone  answers 
this  purpose.  Not  even  fats  and  carbohydrates 
in  quantities  yielding  10,000  and  20,000  calories 
will  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  protein.  Without 
protein  life  becomes  impossible. 

The  fuel  needs  are  supplied  principally  by  the 
carbohydrates  and  fats. 

Most  of  the  foods  we  eat  are  mixtures  of  two 
or  more  of  the  three  common  classes  of  foodstuffs. 
Milk  is  one  of  the  very  few  that  contains  all  three. 
In  a  general  way,  meat  is  rich  in  protein;  so  is 
fish;  whereas  bread  and  the  vegetable  foods  are 
rich  in  carbohydrate.  Butter  and  animal  fats,  and 
animal  and  vegetable  oils,  are  almost  wholly  fat. 

Experience  and  scientific  experiments  have 
taught  us  the  wisdom  of  carefully  distributing  our 
food  among  the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs.  The 
standard  diet  for  an  adult  suggested  by  Voit  some 
40  years  ago  still  serves  as  the  basis  for  our  calcu- 
lation to-day.  The  Voit  diet  consisted  of  protein 
118  grams,  fat  56  grams,  and  carbohydrate  500 
grams.  Or,  in  round  numbers,  protein  100,  fat  50, 
and  carbohydrate  500  (remembering  30  grams  to 
be  equal,  approximately,  to  one  ounce).  Of  late, 
the  tendency  has  been  to  increase  the  fat  somewhat. 

The  available  statistics  for  Great  Britain  show- 


164  VITAMINES 

ing  the  quantity  of  food  consumed  during  1909- 
1913  (in  an  average  population  of  45.2  million) 
are: 

Protein  Fat      Carbohydrate    Calories 

Per  head  per  day 87  100  440  3090 

Per  man  per  day 113  130  571  4009 

(The  numbers  refer  to  grams.  "Per  man  per  day"  represents 
the  average  workman  doing  an  average  day's  work;  100  of  the 
total  population — men,  women  and  children — are  reckoned  as  the 
equivalent  of  77  men.) 

For  the  composition  of  some  of  the  common 
foods,  see  the  Appendix. 

c(A.sh"  or  mineral  matter.  In  addition  to  the 
three  classes  of  foodstuffs,  the  presence  of  "ash" 
or  mineral  matter  in  the  diet  is  absolutely 
imperative.  A  diet  of  protein,  fat  and  carbohy- 
drate, in  amount  such  as  outlined  above,  and  sup- 
plying even  more  than  enough  of  fuel  needs,  will 
quickly  cause  death,  unless  mineral  matter  is  also 
added  to  the  diet.  Fortunately  for  us,  almost  all 
of  the  foods  we  eat  contain  some  mineral  matter 
(see  the  table  in  the  Appendix  giving  the  compo- 
sition of  foods) .  The  elements  present  in  mineral 
matter  are  essential  in  the  construction  of  proto- 
plasm and  bone,  and  in  regulating  the  concentra- 
tion of  fluids  in  the  body.  Lime  is  needed  for  bone 
and  teeth  construction  and  repair;  salt,  for  the 
formation  of  the  juice  in  the  stomach,  iodine  for 
the  thyroid,  etc. 

Watery  Oxygen,  etc.  Both  water  and  oxygen  are 
essential  foods,  for  without  either,  life  is  impossible. 
The  water  is  necessary  for  cell  construction  and 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    165 

for  the  fluids  of  the  body.  The  oxygen  makes  com- 
bustion possible;  so  that  the  foods,  or  their  prod- 
ucts, coming  in  contact  with  this  element,  are  oxi- 
dized, and  so  liberate  the  heat  necessary  to  propel 
the  human  engine. 

The  stimulants,  condiments,  etc.,  are  of  lesser 
importance.  Their  chief  function  is  to  "add  spice 
to  life" ;  they  make  life  more  agreeable. 

Amino-Acids.  Modern  studies  in  nutrition  have 
shown  that  not  all  proteins  have  the  same 
value;  which  means  that  merely  to  talk  of  118 
grams  of  protein  without  specifying  the  kind  of 
protein  is  of  little  consequence.  The  proteins  have 
been  shown  to  be  complex  substances  composed  of 
simpler  units  which  the  chemist  calls  amino-acids. 
All  proteins  when  decomposed  in  a  certain  way 
yield  these  amino-acids  (see  Appendix).  There 
are  some  17  or  18 — recently  another  one  has  been 
discovered — of  these  amino-acids,  and  all  proteins 
are  composed  of  the  majority  of  these,  but  in  vary- 
ing proportions.  Since  what  the  body  needs  is 
not  protein  as  such,  but  rather  the  amino-acids 
which  go  to  make  up  the  protein,  modern  nutrition 
stresses  the  need  for  satisfying  amino-acid,  rather 
than  protein  minimum. 

And  here  again  it  has  been  shown  that  not  all 
amino-acids  are  of  equal  physiological  value. 
Some,  such  as  tryptophane,  are  absolutely  indis- 
pensable in  a  diet,  Others,  such  as  glycocoll,  are 
not.  Hence  the  importance  of  selecting  those  pro- 
teins which  contain  the  necessary  amino-acids. 


166  VITAMINES 

Vitamines.  But  the  most  marked  advance  in 
modern  nutrition  is  due  to  the  proof  that  besides 
proteins,  fats,  carbohydrates  and  mineral  salts, 
there  are  other  as  yet  ill-defined  substances  which, 
though  needed  in  but  minute  proportions,  are  yet 
essential  to  life.  These  substances  are  known  as 
vitamines.  At  least  three  well-defined  vitamines 
have  been  detected,  which  for  purposes  of  identifica- 
tion we  shall  call  fat-soluble  A,  water-soluble  B 
and  water-soluble  C.  The  presence  of  all  three 
of  these  vitamines  is  essential  to  well-being.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  very  few  foods  contain  all  three. 
Milk  is  one  of  the  rare  exceptions,  but  even  here 
the  quantity  of  vitamine  C  that  it  contains  is 
dangerously  small.  It  is  only  by  eating  a  variety 
of  foods  that  we  assure  ourselves  a  liberal  allow- 
ance of  all  three  types  of  vitamine. 

Fat-soluble  A.  This  is  present  in  abundance  in 
milk  and  in  butter  and  in  egg  yolk,  and,  to  a  lesser 
extent,  in  beef  fat  and  in  many  vegetable  foods 
(lettuce,  spinach,  cabbage,  carrots,  potatoes,  etc.). 
Lard  and  vegetable  oils,  such  as  olive  oil,  are  de- 
void of  it.  Cereals  in  general  (wheat,  rye,  barley, 
etc.)  contain  little.  In  a  general  way  the  state- 
ment may  be  made  that  this  vitamine  is  present  in 
green  leaves  and  in  the  embryos  of  many  seeds. 

Water-soluble  B.  This  is  more  abundant  than 
either  of  the  other  two.  In  fact,  nearly  all  natural 
foods  contain  some  of  it.  Yeast  is  particularly 
rich  in  this  vitamine.  So  are  milk  and  orange 
juice.  The  cereals  contain  it  but  only  the  outer 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    167 

layers ;  so  that  in  patent  flour  vitamine  B  is  absent, 
but  in  whole  wheat  flour  it  is  present.* 

Water-soluble  C.  Most  fresh  fruit  and  fresh 
vegetables  contain  this  vitamine.  The  emphasis 
is  advisedly  put  on  fresh  material.  The  orange 
and  the  tomato  are  particularly  good  examples. 

Effect  of  heat.  All  three  vitamines  are  more  or 
less  susceptible  to  heat,  so  that  any  process  involv- 
ing this  operation — cooking  or  canning — is  apt  to 
destroy,  or  greatly  lessen,  the  efficacy  of  the  vita- 
mine.  Of  the  three,  water-soluble  C  seems  most 
susceptive  and  water-soluble  B  least.  One  of  the 
problems  of  the  immediate  future  is  to  devise 
methods  of  drying,  preserving  and  canning  food, 
without  at  the  same  time  lessening  the  vitamine 
value  of  such  foods. 

The  function  of  the  vitamines.  If  carbohy- 
drates supply  energy,  and  proteins,  material  for 
tissue  repair,  what  does  the  vitamine  supply?  We 
really  cannot  answer  this  question  very  satisfac- 
torily. Some  liken  vitamines  to  enzymes  as  being 
in  the  nature  of  catalysts.  By  a  catalyst  we  mean 
a  substance  which  influences  chemical  reactions 
without  itself  undergoing  any  ultimate  change. 

*Dr.  Williams  has  devised  a  very  delicate  test  for  this  vita- 
mine.  It  depends  upon  the  fact  that  yeast  cells  cannot  grow  and 
multiply  unless  water-soluble  B  is  present.  The  procedure  is  to 
take  single  yeast  cells  and  mix  them  with  drops  of  different  solu- 
tions that  are  under  examination.  If  the  solution  contains  water- 
soluble  B  the  yeast  cell  will  grow;  and  indeed  the  extent  of  growth 
gives  us  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  vitamine  in  solution.  All  this 
can  be  examined  under  the  microscope.  Where  the  water-soluble 
B  is  absent,  no  growth  occurs.  Dr.  Williams'  work,  howerer, 
needs  further  confirmation. 


168  VITAMINES 

Others  are  of  the  opinion  that  they  are  of  the  na- 
ture of  hormones, — the  active  substances  present 
in  the  various  internal  secretions  (such  as  those 
in  the  thyroid  and  the  adrenals) — in  that  they 
probably  stimulate  activity  in  the  cells.  Still 
others  consider  that  their  function  is  to  supply  cer- 
tain chemical  groups  to  the  body  which  are  quite 
essential,  and  which  the  body  itself  cannot  manu- 
facture. 

In  connection  with  these  speculations,  Dr.  Steen- 
bock  has  made  the  interesting  observation  that  one 
of  these  vitamines — fat-soluble  A — is  always  asso- 
ciated with  a  yellow  pigment.  Butter,  egg  yolk 
and  codliver  oil  are  all  highly  colored  with  this 
pigment.  Colored  roots  such  as  carrots  and  sweet 
potatoes  contain  it,  but  sugar  beets  and  Irish  pota- 
toes have  little  or  none.  These  observations  lead 
Dr.  Steenbock  to  conclude  that  the  yellow  pigment 
and  the  fat-soluble  A  are  very  closely  related. 
This  view,  however,  has  met  with  very  much  oppo- 
sition. 

Diseases  due  to  lack  of  vitamines  in  the  diet. 
At  least  two  common  diseases  have  been  definitely 
identified  with  vitamine  deficiency.  One  of  them 
is  beriberi,  involving  a  general  paralysis  of  the 
system,  and  due  to  lack  of  water-soluble  B ;  and  the 
other  is  scurvy,  involving  choppy  gums  and  loose 
teeth,  and  due  to  lack  of  water-soluble  C.  We 
have  reasons  for  believing  that  rickets,  an  infant 
disease,  where  the  bones  are  underdeveloped,  is 
due  to  deficiency  of  fat-soluble  A,  though  so  far 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    169 

the  experiments  do  not  seem  as  convincing  as  in 
the  other  two  cases  cited. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Goldberger,  of  the  U.  S.  Public 
Health  Service,  has  clearly  demonstrated  that  pel- 
lagra, a  disease  frequently  met  with  in  the  South, 
is  a  deficiency  disease.  The  absence  of  vitamines  A 
and  B,  or  rather  their  presence  in  the  diet  in  in- 
sufficient amounts,  has  much  to  do  with  the  onset 
of  this  disease,  though  Dr.  Goldberger  believes 
that  deficiencies  in  the  diet  of  ammo-acids  and 
mineral  salts  are  also  contributing  factors. 
Whether  pellagra,  one  of  the  symptoms  of  which  is 
a  skin  eruption,  is  due  to  lack  of  vitamines  A  and  B, 
or  to  a  lack  of  vitamines,  certain  amino-acids  and 
certain  mineral  salts,  or  perhaps  to  a  fourth  as  yet 
unidentified  vitamine,  is  a  subject  for  further 
study.  That  the  absence  of  some  one  or  several 
vitamines  is  a  contributing  factor  is  now  generally 
conceded. 

The  vitamine  that  cures  beriberi  is  called  the 
antineuritic  vitamine;  that  which  cures  rickets 
is  the  antirachitic  vitamine;  and  the  one  which 
cures  scurvy  is  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine. 

A  wholesome  diet.  We  shall  attempt  to  give 
no  101  recipes,  but  to  draw  a  few  general  inferences 
from  our  discussion.  In  planning  our  diet  we 
ought,  wherever  possible,  plan  it  around  milk  as 
the  nucleus.  Milk,  as  we  have  seen,  contains  the 
three  classes  of  foodstuffs,  the  mineral  salts,  pro- 
teins rich  in  the  necessary  amino-acids  and  all 
three  vitamines.  To  be  sure,  it  is  somewhat  defi- 


170  VITAMINES 

cient  in  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine,  which  is  the 
reason  why  physicians  supplement  the  baby's  milk 
diet  with  orange  juice.  But  all  in  all,,  it  is  nature's 
food  par  excellence.  Professor  McCollum  rightly 
considers  milk  as  a  "protective"  food,  in  the  sense 
that  any  deficiencies  in  the  various  foods  eaten  are 
well  counterbalanced  by  a  milk  diet. 

With  this  in  mind,  liberal  quantities  of  milk  or 
its  equivalent  (in  the  shape  of  cocoa  or  coffee) 
should  form  part  of  the  daily  diet.  Eealizing  how 
sensitive  to  changes  of  temperature  the  vitamines 
are — and  in  this  respect  it  should  also  be  kept  in 
mind  that  the  milk  proteins  themselves  undergo 
changes  on  heating  which  are  still  little  understood 
— the  milk,  whenever  possible,  should  be  taken  in 
a  fresh,  unheated  condition.  Neither  pasteurized, 
nor  condensed,  nor  powdered  milk  is  fully  the 
equivalent  of  the  fresh  milk. 

With  milk  as  the  nucleus  of  the  diet,  we  can  now 
fill  in  the  outer  portions  of  the  cell.  A  certain 
amount  of  vegetables  and  fruits  should  always  be 
included — the  particular  kind  depending  upon  the 
season. 

Do  not  misunderstand  any  suggestion  about 
freshness.  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  cooked  or 
canned  fruit  and  vegetables,  or  dried  milk,  is  not 
valuable,  or  that  they  should  be  discarded.  On 
the  contrary,  modern  civilization  could  hardly  exist 
without  them.  But  if  you  do  use  the  canned,  etc., 
foods,  remember  that  these  cannot  contain  as  much 
vitamines  as  the  fresh  varieties;  so  be  sure  to  take 
a  little  "something  fresh"  every  day. 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    171 

Aside  from  their  vitamine  content — thereby  sup- 
plementing the  supply  in  milk — fruits  and  vege- 
tables contain  appreciable  quantities  of  mineral 
matter,  and  are  helpful  as  laxatives ;  and  vegetables 
also  contain  carbohydrates. 

With  milk  as  the  nucleus  of  the  diet,  and  mod- 
erate quantities  of  fruit  and  vegetables  added  to 
the  milk,  we  may  still  be  somewhat  deficient  in 
protein  requirements.  These  may  be  obtained 
from  any  one  of  the  cereals'  such  as'  wheat,  rye, 
barley,  etc.  The  cereals  are  also  rich  in  carbo- 
hydrate, though  poor  in  fat. 

Milk,  cereal,  fruit  and  vegetables  can  constitute 
a  complete  diet,  provided,  of  course,,we  take  enough 
to  assure  all  calorific  requirements.  The  milk  and 
cereal  supply  the  protein,  and  however  deficient  in 
certain  essential  amino-acids'  the  cereal  proteins 
may  be  such  deficiencies  are  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  milk  proteins.  The  milk,  cereal 
and  vegetables  supply  the  carbohydrates;  so  does 
fruit,  but  to  a  less  degree;  and  the  milk  supplies 
the  fat.  The  amount  of  fat  included  in  such  a 
diet  may  not  be  very  much,  but  it  is  still  a  ques- 
tion whether  fat  is  really  an  essential  constituent, 
provided  always  that  the  individual  consumes 
enough  car'bohydr'ate.  In  any  case  the  amount  we 
usually  consume  is  far  more  than  we  need.  In 
America  and  England,  particularly,  where  we  can- 
not be  tempted  to  eat  bread  without  butter,  the  fat 
consumption  is  abnormally  high. 

All  four  food  products,  milk,  cereal,  fruit  and 
vegetables,  contain  mineral  salts,  and  they  all  con- 


172  VITAMINES 

tain  one  or  more  of  the  three  vitamines  so  far  iden- 
tified. 

But  you  will  say  that  this  diet  of  mine  does  not 
include  the  most  prized  of  foods,  meat.  We,  and 
particularly  we  Americans,  eat  meat  altogether 
beyond  all  requirements.  With  the  diet  just  out- 
lined we  could  live  quite  happily  without  ever 
tasting  any  meat.  But  I  recognize  that  while 
hunger  may  be  a  purely  physiological  manifesta- 
tion, appetite  is  more  complex;  and  our  highly- 
civilized  man  needs  tempting  dishes  to  make  him 
enjoy  his  food.  Perhaps  the  most  tempting  of  all 
dishes  is  meat  in  one  of.  its  several  forms.  The 
roast  chicken,  the  porterhouse  steak,  the  lamb 
chops,  etc.,  "make  the  mouth  water";  and  "mak- 
ing the  mouth  water"  causes  an  abundant  flow  of 
digestive  juices;  and  these  digestive  juices  are  nec- 
essary to  prepare  the  food  for  assimilation. 

So  eat  meat.  Your  meat  will  give  you  a  food 
rich  in  protein  and  will  stimulate  your  appetite. 
But  with  appreciable  quantities  of  milk  and  cereal, 
fruit  and  vegetables,  hardly  more  than  two  ounces, 
and  certainly  never  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  meat  per  day  should  be  consumed.* 

Fish  plays  much  the  part  that  meat  does;  both 
are  valuable  sources  of  protein,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent, fat;  and  whenever  the  milk  and  cereal  con- 
sumed are  not  sufficient  to  supply  protein  needs — 
which  will  happen  whenever  such  supplies  are 

* ' '  Meat  supplements  the  ordinary  cereals  and  leguminous  pro- 
teins to  make  the  mixture  better.  Meat  extract  is  one  of  the  most 
potent  gastric  suecagogues. ' '  (Professor  Mendel.) 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    173 

scarce,  or  perhaps  too  costly,  or  when  one  or  both 
of  them  are  disliked — meat  and  fish  are  invaluable 
substitutes. 

Better  even  than  meat  and  fish  as  an  additional 
source  of  protein  are  eggs;  for  these  are  also  rich 
in  fats  and  particularly  the  fat-like  substances,  the 
lipoids,  the  importance  of  which  to  the  body  is  only 
now  beginning  to  be  appreciated.  For  the  growing 
child,  for  the  nursing  mother,  for  the  convalescent, 
few  foods  are  as  nutritious,  weight  for  weight,  as 
are  eggs. 

The  nursing  mother.  To  emphasize  not  merely 
a  plentiful,  but  a  carefully  selected  diet  for  the 
nursing  mother  seems  almost  superfluous.  The 
healthy  mother  has  not  only  an  abundant  supply 
of  milk,  but  a  milk  of  good  quality ;  and  such  milk 
for  the  child  no  artificial  food  can  replace. 

While,  of  course,  there  are  a  number  of  factors 
that  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  health  of 
the  mother,  the  food  factor,  taken  all  in  all,  is 
perhaps  the  most  important,  and  the  one  most  often 
neglected.  Here  again  the  mother's  diet  should 
include  a  plentiful  supply  of  milk — two  and  three 
times  the  quantity  that  she  might  ordinarily  take — • 
perhaps  a  quart  or  so  a  day.  Since  milk  contains 
much  fluid  in  proportion  to  its  solid  content,  a 
good  supplementary  diet  is  the  egg.  A  quart  of 
milk  and  two  or  three  eggs  per  day  should  consti- 
tute the  principal  item  in  the  mother's  bill  of  fare. 
But  with  these  should  come  vegetables  and  fruit 
in  moderation.  Meat  should  certainly  not  be  over- 


174  VITAMINES 

emphasized.     Take  a  little  if  you  like  it  very  much, 
but  only  a  little. 

The  infant.  You  hear  so  often  the  remark, 
"Nothing  like  a  breast-fed  baby."  This  needs  some 
qualification.  Unless  the  mother's  milk  is  excel- 
lent in  quality,  the  breast-fed  baby  may  suffer  far 
more  than  the  artificially  fed  one.  But  when  the 
mother  is  in  good  health,  and  her  milk  is  therefore 
of  good  quality,  modern  science  merely  confirms 
what  untold  years  of  experience  have  taught  us: 
breast  milk  is  superior  to  all  other  milk. 

Breast  milk.  Having  been  taught  that  milk,  ir- 
respective whether  human  or  cow's,  etc.,  contains 
the  three  classes  of  foodstuffs,  the  mineral  salts, 
the  essential  amino-acids  and  the  vitamines,  the 
reader  may  very  naturally  ask  why  breast  milk  for 
the  infant  should  be  superior  to  cow's  milk?  Of 
course  the  first  answer  that  comes  to  mind  is  that 
the  proportions  of  constituents  in  breast  and  cow's 
milk  are  different.  Cow's  milk  contains  more  pro- 
tein than  mother's  milk;  the  latter,  on  the  other 
hand,  contains  more  milk  sugar.  It  is  indeed  cus- 
tomary, whenever  the  infant  is  fed  on  cow's  milk, 
to  dilute  it  and  add  some  milk  sugar.  In  this  way 
you  make  the  proportions  of  constituents  in  your 
modified  cow's  milk  as  nearly  like  to  what  it  is  in 
the  mother's  milk.  But  even  when  that  is  done 
there  is  quite  a  decided  difference.  So  far  as  the 
chemist  and  the  physician  can  tell,  you  have  the 
same  protein,  fat,  carbohydrate,  mineral  salts  and 
vitamines  in  both  kinds  of  milk.  Just  what  is  the 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    175 

difference?  We  must  confess  that  we  do  not  know. 
Some  physiologists  claim  that  the  proteins  in  the 
two  milks  are  not  quite  the  same ;  careful  chemical 
analyses  do  reveal  differences.  Perhaps  the  pro- 
tein has  something  to  do  with  it. 

Artificial  feeding.  Of  course,  where  breast 
feeding  is  impossible,  or  possible  but  disadvanta- 
geous to  the  child,  artificial  feeding  has  to  be  re- 
sorted to.  Modern  pediatricians  no  longer  do  what 
their  predecessors  did ;  they  do  not  risk  their  repu- 
tation on  calories  alone;  nor  merely  on  the  pro- 
portion of  the  three  foodstuffs  to  one  another. 
They  take  into  consideration  all  the  various  fac- 
tors that  the  science,  of  nutrition  has  taught  them 
to  be  important ;  many  of  these  have  been  discussed 
in  this  book. 

"Modified,"  dried  and  condensed  milk.  Even 
where  the  infant  is  deprived  of  mother's  milk,  we 
have  every  reason  to  believe  that  ordinary  milk — 
provided  it  is  not  diluted  or  treated  in  some  special 
way — contains  the  three  vitamines  in  sufficient 
quantity.  Where,  however,  the  child  receives 
"modified"  milk  in  one  form  or  another,  there  it 
becomes  most  important  to  carefully  examine  such 
a  product  for  its  vitamine  content.  Codliver  oil 
is  a  good  source  of  fat-soluble  A,  and  orange  juice 
of  water-soluble  C. 

Should  the  child  receive  dried  or  condensed  milk, 
we  must  remember  that  the  method  of  preparation 
of  such  milk  probably  destroys  its  content  of  water- 
soluble  C,  though  we  have  reasons  to  believe  that 
the  two  other  vitamines  remain  fairly  active.  "In 


170  VITAMINES 

the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  is  our  duty 
to  give  our  infants  the  best  possible  ehance,  and  the 
wise  course  is  to  omit  no  precaution  that  may  ulti- 
mately prove  to  have  been  necessary.  An  addi- 
tional antiscorbutic  should  therefore  be  given  to 
infants  who  are  reared  on  any  artificial  food  other 
than  raw  cow's  milk.  Even  in  this  case,  and  that 
of  the  breast-fed  infants,  such  a  course  might  also 
prove  beneficial."  (British  Medical  Report.) 

"The  Valm  of  Milk  for  the  Child.  Milk  is  abso- 
lutely essential  for  the  life  of  infants  and  very 
young  children. 

"It  is  a  most  desirable  adjunct  to  the  diet  of 
older,  rapidly  growing  children. 

"It  is  the  main  dietary  reliance  in  cases  of  dis- 
ordered digestion  or  extreme  illness. 

"Milk  contains  an  abundance  of  protein,  fat,  car- 
bohydrate and  mineral  nutrients,  and  its  proteins 
are  not  only  of  superior  value  when  used  alone, 
but  they  are  especially  adapted  to  supplement  the 
protein  deficiencies  of  the  cereals  which  form  so 
large  a  part  of  the  daily  ration  of  mankind.  Its 
mineral  nutrients  also  supplement  the  deficiencies 
of  the  cereals,  meat,  sugar  and  fats  in  these  im- 
portant elements.  Moreover  it  contains  the  three 
vitamines  without  which  life  cannot  be  maintained. 

"The  scurvy-preventing  vitamine  is  destroyed  by 
heat,  and  therefore  if  infants  are  fed  on  pasteurized 
or  sterilized  milk  the  use  of  orange  juice  or  some 
vegetable  extract  is  necessary  to  avoid  the  possi- 
bility of  scurvy. 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    177 

"Whole  milk  contains  enough  water-soluble  vita- 
mine  to  meet  an  infant's  requirements,  but  if  'the 
top  of  the  bottle'  diluted  with  water  is  fed,  the 
supply  of  this  essential  vitamine  may  be  insufficient 
unless  it  is  supplemented  from  some  other  source. 

"Milk  is  the  only  food  known  which  is  capable  of 
serving  as  the  sole  constituent  of  an  adequate 
ration. 

"Milk  is  a  cheaper  form  of  food  at  16  cents  a 
quart  than  either  beef  at  35  cents  a  pound  or  eggs 
at  35  cents  a  dozen."  (Miss  E.  L.  Ferry.) 

Vegetarianism.  The  vegetarians  who  eat  milk 
and  eggs  are  not  vegetarians,  strictly  speaking. 
No  diet  including  milk  and  eggs  is  a  deficient  diet, 
provided  always  that  enough  of  them  is  taken. 
Meat  and  fish  need  never  be  eaten  and  perfect 
health  may  still  be  maintained. 

But  the  problem  is  a  difficult  one  with  the  true 
vegetarian  who  would  eat  neither  milk  nor  eggs. 
From  what  has  already  been  said,  we  must  con- 
sider milk  as  the  most  important  of  our  foods. 
It  is  the  protective  food  which  makes  up  for  vari- 
ous deficiencies  in  other  foods.  To  make  up  such 
deficiencies  without  the  use  of  milk,  particularly 
where  meat  and  fish  are  also  excluded,  is  not  only 
difficult  but  dangerous.  Theoretically,  there  is  no 
reason  why  a  complete  diet  cannot  be  formed  from 
a  mixture  of  cereals,  vegetables  and  fruit.  If 
chemical  and  physiological  analysis  had  proceeded 
far  enough,  we  might  have  been  able  to  select  all 
the  necessities  from  even  such  a  restricted  diet. 


178  VITAMINES 

But  though  we  know  much  more  to-day  than  we 
did  a  generation  ago,  the  science  of  nutrition  is 
still  far  from  complete. 

Bread.  Next  to  milk  perhaps  the  commonest 
of  our  foodstuffs  is  bread.  As  already  stated  in  a 
discussion  on  cereals,  bread  is  rich  in  carbohydrates 
and  contains  moderate  quantities  of  proteins  (see 
Appendix).  The  proteins  are  rather  poor  in  cer- 
tain essential  amino-acids.  The  amount  of  fat- 
soluble  A  present  is  small. 

Bread  is  made  from  different  grains.  The 
most  prized  is  that  made  from  wheat.  Next  in 
public  estimation  comes  rye,  then  barley,  then  oats, 
then  maize.  In  so  far  as  their  nutritive  content  is 
concerned,  there  is  little  to  choose  between  the 
various  grains.  If  wheat  is  preferred  to  oats,  the 
reason  is  not  because  the  one  contains  more  protein 
or  carbohydrate,  or  because  the  one  contains  a  pro- 
tein of  better  quality;  it  is  because  the  dough 
formed  with  wheat,  and  the  bread  ultimately  pro- 
duced from  it,  are  more  consistent;  the  wheat 
bread  holds  together  better  and  is  less  granular 
than  the  bread  made  from  oats. 

Professor  Sherman  of  Columbia,  who  has  care- 
fully investigated  the  nutritive  values  of  the  dif- 
ferent cereals,  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  no 
choice  can  be  made  among  them.  All  are  about 
equally  efficient — or  rather  deficient;  for  a  defi- 
ciency of  a  number  of  essential  amino-acids  in  their 
proteins  makes  it  necessary  to  supplement  a  cereal 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS     179 

food  with  other  food.     An  excellent  supplementary 
food  for  such  a  purpose  is  milk. 

Much  of  the  cereal  eaten  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe  is  eaten  in  the  form  of  bread.  The  Orien- 
tals prefer  theirs  in  the  form  of  rice  and  corn, 
and  these  are  usually  boiled.  The  polished  rice, 
without  the  surrounding  layers  that  are  found  in 
the  unpolished  variety,  has  given  rise  to  many  cases 
of  beriberi  among  Chinese,  Japanese,  Filipinos, 
etc.  Had  our  Oriental  friends  eaten  their  polished 
rice  together  with  other  and  various  foods,  beriberi 
would  never  have  attacked  them,  for  the  deficiency 
in  water-soluble  B  vitamine  in  polished  rice  might 
have  been  obtained  from  milk  or  vegetables. 

Meat.  Where  dairy  products  are  plentiful — 
where  milk  and  butter  and  cheese  abound — meat  is 
of  little  importance.  This  has  already  been  dis- 
cussed. The  amount  of  meat  consumed  is  unneces- 
sarily high  in  many  cases. 

Fruit  and  vegetables.  The  value  of  these  foods 
has  already  been  pointed  out.  In  this  country  we 
derive  about  15  per  cent  of  our  total  calorific  value 
of  the  food  from  fruit  and  vegetables.  This  could 
safely  be  higner.  In  comparison  with  other  coun- 
tries, we  consume  large  quantities  of  beans  and 
green  peas,  but  rather  small  quantities  of  potatoes, 
cabbage,  beets  and  turnips.  The  potato  particu- 
larly is  not  used  nearly  to  the  extent  it  should. 
Professors  Kellog  and  Taylor,  at  one  time  con- 


180  VITAMINES 

nected  with  the  United  States  Food  Administra- 
tion, inform  us  that  in  Germany  before  the  war  the 
annual  yield  of  potatoes  amounted  to  45  million 
tons,  whereas  in  the  United  States  it  was  9  millions. 
And  think  of  the  smaller  population  of  Germany, 
and  think  of  how  much  smaller  their  country  is. 

Our  professors  have  calculated  that  in  a  mixed 
diet,  five  parts  of  the  potato  correspond  to  one  part 
of  grain.  The  potato  is  fairly  rich  in  vitamines 
B  and  C,  in  mineral  matter,  in  starch, — an  easily 
digestible  carbohydrate — and  though  less  rich  in 
proteins,  these  are  fairly  well  balanced. 

Our  consumption  of  leaf  vegetables,  such  as  cab- 
bage, spinach,  Brussels  sprouts,  and  root  vege- 
tables, such  as  beets,  turnips  and  carrots,  may  well 
be  increased.  "The  green  vegetables  supply  an  im- 
portant addition  to  the  diet  of  man  because  the  sta- 
ples, such  as  cereals,  meat,  potatoes,  fats  and  sugar, 
probably  furnish  too  small  an  amount  of  vitamines 
to  meet  fully  the  requirements  of  an  adequate  diet. 
Therefore  care  should  be  taken  not  to  reduce 
greatly  the  quantity  of  green  vegetables  customar- 
ily eaten  until  more  is  learnt  about  the  actual  re- 
quirements for  these  food  factors  and  their  rela- 
tive abundance  in  the  commonly  used  vegetables 
and  green  foods.  Only  then  will  it  be  safe  to  ap- 
ply the  results  obtained  in  the  laboratory  to  at- 
tempts to  effect  economies  in  the  use  of  these  rela- 
tively expensive  food  products." 

In  the  Allied  armies  the  following  vegetable 
ration  was  found  to  be  satisfactory:  potato  40 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS     181 

parts;  carrots  20  parts;  turnips  20  parts;  cabbage 
10  parts;  onions  10  parts. 

Fish.  Though  poor  in  vitamine  content,  fish  is 
rich  in  protein  and  fat,  and  in  that  respect  com- 
pares favorably  with  meat. 

Sugar.  This  carbohydrate  may  be  put  to  several 
uses.  Its  commonest  use  is  as  a  sweetener,  whether 
added  to  coffee  and  tea,  or  to  candy.  Most  of  us 
crave  for  sugar;  the  sweet  we  prefer  to  the  bitter. 
There  is  an  important  psychological  factor  here 
that  cannot  be  overlooked,  for  sugar  in  moderate 
quantities  stimulates  the  appetite  of  most  of  us. 
But  sugar  is  really  more  than  a  flavoring  material ; 
it  is  a  very  good  food.  The  cane  sugar  that  we 
use,  and  even  the  cheaper  glucose  that  finds  its  way 
into  confectioneries  of  various  kinds,  is  very  nearly 
100  per  cent  carbohydrate. 

As  a  conserver  of  fruits  and  in  cooking  of  foods, 
sugar  also  finds  constant  use. 

Table  beverages.  Tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  chocolate 
and  the  now  forbidden  alcohol  in  its  various  guises, 
are  not  as  a  rule  taken  to  increase  the  nutrient 
value  of  our  foods.  They  act  as  stimulants.  Here 
again  the  psychological  factor  comes  into  play.  Of 
course  a  cup  of  chocolate  which,  let  us  say,  consists 
of  three-quarters  milk  or  one-half  cream  and  two 
or  three  pieces  of  sugar,  is  a  very  nutritious  drink ; 
but  remember  that  the  nutritive  value  is  not  de- 


182  VITAMINES 

rived  from  the  chocolate,  but  from  the  milk  or 
cream  and  the  sugar.  For  those  disliking  milk,  an 
excellent  method  is  to  add  a  few  teaspoonsful  of 
coffee  or  cocoa  to  it,  together  with  perhaps  a  little 
bit  of  sugar. 

Fashion  in  foods.  We  must  be  careful  in  advo- 
cating certain  diets  to  remember  that  man  is  not 
altogether  a  machine.  The  results  of  experiments 
in  physiology  and  chemistry  cannot  always  be  ap- 
plied in  their  entirety.  You  may  discover  from 
such  experiments  that  milk  is  the  most  important 
of  foods ;  yet  the  fact  remains  that  there  are  people 
who  dislike  it,  and  who,  therefore,  because  of  such 
dislike,  do  not  derive  as  much  benefit  from  drink- 
ing milk  as  others  who  have  no  such  dislike.  I 
know  (and  you  know)  persons  who  dislike  butter; 
others  who  dislike  vegetables  prepared  in  a  certain 
way — they  may  like  fried,  but  not  mashed  potatoes. 
Some  like  pot  roast  and  others  hate  the  sight  of 
it.  Some  relish  cheese  full  of  odors,  and  others  are 
ready  to  vomit  at  the  mere  mention  of  the  name. 
And  then  you  have  variations  in  taste  due  to  differ- 
ences of  religion,  of  race,  of  country.  Watch  the 
orthodox  Jew  make  faces  when  he  sees  ham  or 
pork.  Watch  the  uninitiated  American  observe 
caution  when  he  first  attacks  chop  suey.  Watch 
the  Englishman  throw  up  his  hands  in  holy  horror 
when  his  Spanish  friends  swallow  garlic  and 
onions. 

David  Fairchild  asks  the  following  interesting 
question:  "How  did  seaweeds  and  candied  grass- 
hoppers come  into  use  in  Japan,  and  fried  rhinoc- 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    185 

eros'  hide  in  Africa,  and  powdered  deer  horns  in 
China,  and  pickled  pigs'  feet  in  Germany,  and 
moldy  cheese  with  skippers  in  it  in  England,  and 
snails  and  frogs'  legs  in  France,  and  grasshoppers, 
fried  and  reduced  to  a  meal,  in  Arabia,  and  snakes 
and  lizards  among  the  North  American  Indians, 
and  octopus  among  the  Neapolitans,  and  wood- 
grubs  among  the  New  Zealand  Maoris,  and  caviar, 
the  eggs  of  the  Volga  sturgeon,  among  the  Kus- 
sians,  and  rats  and  mice  and  dogs  and  cats  among 
the  Chinese,  and  human  flesh  among  the  Fiji 
Islanders?  ...  Is  it  not  highly  probable  that  these 
foods  came  into  vogue  just  as  we  know  coffee  and 
tea  and  the  potato  and  tobacco  and  chocolate  have 
come  to  be  fashionable  to-day  in  European  and 
American  countries,  through  the  encouragement 
given  by  those  who  set  the  fashion  of  the  day?" 

The  Future.  The  solution  of  the  food  problem 
does  not  rest  merely  with  the  physiologists  and 
clinicians,  who  sort  out  the  foods  and  tell  us  that 
one  food  is  more  wholesome  than  another.  This  is 
important  enough,  but  it  is  not  embracive  enough. 
For  to-day  the  question  is  not  merely  one  of  select- 
ing, but  of  procuring  foods.  Side  by  side  with 
researches  on  the  biological  and  chemical  value  of 
foodstuffs,  other  researches  closely  bound  up  with 
these  must  be  carried  on.  Means  for  more  inten- 
sive cultivation  of  land,  which  includes  the  im- 
proved manufacture  of  artificial  fertilizers,  are 
well  under  way.  But  the  chemist  must  also  find 
ways  of  manufacturing  foods  from  substances  not 


VITAMINES 

foods.  I  have  in  mind  such  a  problem  as  the  pro- 
duction of  glucose  from  formaldehyde  ("forma- 
lin"), and  of  converting  complex,  indigestible  ma- 
terial into  digestible  food.  A  successful  illustra- 
tion of  the  latter  is  the  conversion  of  cellulose — 
the  typical  carbohydrate  that  covers  plant  cells — 
into  glucose  by  heating  with  oil  of  vitriol.  Still 
another  way  of  attacking  the  food  problem  is  by 
utilizing  little  known  foods.  For  example,  how 
many  of  us  use  soy  beans,  cultivated  so  extensively 
in  Japan?  You  may  be  surprised  to  hear  that  this 
variety  of  bean  contains  twice  as  much  protein  and 
fat  as  meat.  Dr.  Kogers'  advocacy  of  the  useful- 
ness and  the  palatibility  of  shark  meat  is  another 
instance  of  the  attempted  introduction  of  little 
known  foods. 

I  can  think  of  still  another  method  to  which 
bacteriologists  have  already  paid  some  attention. 
The  lower  plants,  such  as  yeast,  can  use  as  food, 
compounds  that  man  cannot  use.  By  so  doing, 
these  yeast  plants  build  protein,  fat  and  carbohy- 
drate material — in  the  shape  of  more  yeast  cells. 
In  other  words,  the  yeast  cells  multiply  on  a  diet 
which  we  could  not  make  use  of  at  all.  To  make 
this  a  little  more  specific:  ammonia  may  be  ob- 
tained in  two  ways,  either  from  coal,  or  by  directly 
combining  the  elements  nitrogen  and  hydrogen 
(Haber  process).  Ammonia  in  the  form  of  one  of 
its  salts  is  a  good  source  of  nitrogen  food  for  yeast, 
whereas  the  only  nitrogen  food  we  can  use  is  pro- 
tein, or  the  amino-acids  out  of  which  the  protein 
is  built.  The  yeast  will  use  these  ammonium  salts, 


SUMMARY.     PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS    185 

and  out  of  them  it  will  build  proteins,  which  we  can 
then  use  as  a  source  of  protein  food.  So  you  see 
that,  traveling  by  an  indirect  route,  we  may  be  able 
to  get  protein  from  coal;  or  still  better,  starting 
with  the  nitrogen  of  the  air,  and  the  hydrogen 
which  can  be  obtained  by  electrolyzing  water,  we 
may  ultimately  reach  the  protein  stage.  Romantic 
enough,  is  it  not? — to  dream  of  supplying  protein 
needs  from  the  air  and  from  water?  Yet  this 
romance  has  much  of  fact  mixed  with  it. 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  OF  COMPOSITION  AND  CALORIE  VALUE  OF  THE 

MORE  IMPORTANT  FOODS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  INTER- 
ALLIED SCIENTIFIC  FOOD  COMMISSION 

Energy 
value 

Protein.  Fat.  per  kilo. 

Commodity.                                %  %    Calories. 
Cereals — 

Wheat  and  barley  flour 11.5  1.0        3,640 

Oatmeal    16.0  8.0        4,000 

Barley  meal   10.5  2.2        3,600 

Tapioca,  sago,  arrowroot,  etc 8.3  0.6        3,650 

Maize    meal 7.5  4.2        3,500 

Bice    8.0  0.3        3,540 

Meat— 

Beef 15.0  18.0        2,290 

Veal    16.0  6.3         1,230 

Mutton    13.5  24.0         2,790 

Lamb    15.0  18.9         2,370 

Bacon    9.5  60.0        6,000 

Ham    14.5  34.0         3,750 

Other  pig  meat  (fresh  pork) 10.0  40.0        4,120 

Meat  offals 20.0  10.0        1,750 

Poultry,  Eggs,  etc. — 

Poultry    (and  Game) 15.0  9.5         1,500 

Eggs  (at  2  oz.)    12.0  9,5         1,400 

Babbits,  imported   (excluding  skins) 21.7  10.8        1,900 

FisJir— 

Herrings    11.6  4.0            850 

Other  fish,  fresh 10.0  1.0            500 

Shell  fish   (without  shell) 5.0  1.5 

Canned  and  salted  fish 20.6  10.3        1,800 

186 


APPENDIX 


Commodity. 


187 

Energy 
value 

Protein.     Fat.  per  kilo. 
%  %    Calories. 


Dairy  Produce — 

Milk    3.3  3.7  700 

Butter    1.0  85.0  7,950 

Cheese   (United  States  and  United  King- 
dom)       25.0  30.0  4,000 

Cheese  (France  and  Italy) 25.0  29.0  3,700 

Condensed  milk,  unsweetened    9.6  9.3  1,700 

Condensed  milk,  sweetened    8.8  8.3  3,300 

Margarine    1.2  83.5  7,800= 

Lard  2.2  94.0  8,800 

Fruit— 

Apples    0.3  0.3  480 

Bananas    0.7  0.4  600 

Oranges    —  350 

Nuts    6.5  22.8  2,600 

Fruits,  fresh 0.7  0.4  500 

Fruits,  preserved   (without  sugar) 2.0  2.0  2,800 

Vegetables — 

Chestnuts    —  2,000 

Potatoes    1.8  0.1  700 

Beans,  Peas  and  Lentils  (dried) 24.3  1.3  3,600 

Green  Peas  and  Broad  Beans  (shelled)  ...  7.0  0.5  1,000 

Other   vegetables 0.75  0.15  200 

Preserved  vegetables  (bottled  and  canned)  1.5  0.3  380 

Sugar,  Cocoa,  etc. — 

Cocoa   (and  chocolate) 15.0  34.0  4,800 

Sugar  (taken  as  refined) —  4,100 

Molasses    1.0  —  2,300 

Glucose,  solid    —  —  3,400 

Glucose,  liquid    — -  3,200 

Olive  Oil  (refined) —  100.0  9,300 


[One  kilo  corresponds  to  about  two  and  one-quarter  pounds.] 


188  VITAMINES 


Dr.  Funk's  Classification  of  the  Vitamines 

Antirachitic  (fat-soluble  A)  vitamine.  Ani- 
mals that  can  be  used  for  experimental  purposes: 
rats  and  dogs  (puppies).  The  disease  can  be  in- 
duced in  these  animals  by  feeding  them  with  a 
synthetic  diet  in  which  the  fat  consists  of  lard. 
The  animals  can  be  cured  of  rickets  by  adding  but- 
ter fat,  codliver  oil,  or  extracts  of  green  vegetables 
to  the  diet.* 

Antineuritic  (water-soluble  B)  vitamine.  For 
experimental  purposes  pigeons,  and  fowls  in  gen- 
eral, and  rats  can  be  used.  The  disease  may  be  de- 
veloped with  polished  rice.  Beriberi  may  be  cured 
with  yeast,  etc. 

Antiscorbutic  (water-soluble  C)  vitamine. 
Guinea-pigs  and  monkeys  are  used.  The  disease 
may  be  developed  with  oats  and  autoclaved  milk. 
The  curative  agent  for  scurvy  is  orange  juice,  or 
tomatoes,  etc. 

*  Prof essor  Mendel  writes  to  say  that  "you  are  going  beyond 
dependable  knowledge  in  this  paragraph."  This  is  Dr.  Funk's 
classification,  not  mine.  The  discussion  in  Chapter  XII  clearly 
demonstrates  that  I  have  not  overlooked  alternative  hypotheses. 


—  utpuBuiy 


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o"  o*  o*  io"  co*  ko*  £H 


<M  O  rH  rH  CO  »O  OO 
O  O  CM  CD  O  CO  »O 
O*  CM*  O*  »O*  b-  CM*  O* 


OSrH^CMiHCOOrH 

oq  o"  o  TH  eo*  o  o  10* 


CO  CO    O  CM  O  IO 
rH  CO  e~  CO  00  1--  CM 


CO  e~  CO  00  1--  CM 
O*  TH   CO*  O  CM  O* 


CD    O5  ^  O5  O  rH 
00  O  «*  rH  CM  CO  O  rH 


II 


8  ::::-:- 

|    :o§§.S    'I 

|®§'55  'S^Jo 

fJf|ul  |  S 

S  02  Q  &n  •<  S  A  <3 


3 


190 


VITAMINES 


»0  TH     ;  00  TH  C<J     j        S     • 
O  CO*      *  rH  rH  G<*      •         CO*      * 


IO  00  OO  TH  Ci 
b-  to  TH  CO  b~  00 
tO*  O  rH  rH  rH  CO* 
Od  <M 


MOQ — m  98130 


O  IO    b-    rH  C^  1O  rH 

O  »O  <>q  TH  b»  CJ  rH    »O  IO  p  IO  CC'  IO  Oi  «O  IO_ 
O  r-i  b^  O5  tO  CO*  rH 


10  00  O  rH  i 

to'  O  rH  oi  IO  O  O 


CO    00 


tnqoiSoinaeq 
osiojj  —  ui 


O  Cd      •  O  CO  <N  "<*« 

o  rji    *        '        " 


^     to  CO  CO  rH  O  CO 
* 


6HOOOOD  3{[Tg 

esairedef 


p  to  i  b-  b»  co  co   p 

»0*  OJ    O*  O  rH*  i-H    O 
CO  <N 


BUOODOD  3ItTg 


iq  oq   .  oq  p  co  oq      oo^^      p 

i-i  05*    I   rH  CO*  O  <M*        rH  W*        rH 


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t^  OO* 
CQ  TH 


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CO  p 

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§ 


to  00  (M  t~  CO 


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b-;  OO  ^  iH  IO  rH         O5 
rH  <M*  <M*        03 


J^  to  O  rH  10 
00  b-'  rH  rH  rH 


OC^JOrHtOb-O        O 
O  CQ  iO  b^  IO  O  <K1        rH 

o  cvi  oi  o"  co  10'  c<»      os 


00          CD    o 

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CU  <i 


APPENDIX 


191 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  THREE  AC- 
CESSORY FACTORS  IN  THE  COMMONER 
FOODSTUFFS 


(Compiled  by  the  British  Medical  Research 
Committee) 


Classes  of  foodstuff 
Fats  and  oils. 

Butter 

Cream 

Codliver  oil 

Mutton  fat 

Beef  fat  or  suet 

Peanut  or  arachis  oil 

Lard 

Olive  oil 

Cottonseed  oil 

Coconut  oil 

Cocoa  butter 

Linseed  oil 

Fish    oil,    whale    oil, 
herring   oil,   &c. 

Hardened    fats,    ani- 
mal or  veg.  origin 

Margarine     prepared 
from  animal  fat 


Margarine  from  vege- 
table fats  or  lard 
Nut  butters 

Meat,  fish,  $c. 

Lean  meat  (beef,  mut- 
ton, &c.) 
Liver 
Kidneys 


Fat- 

soluble 

A  or  antv- 

rachitio 

factor 


Water-solu- 
ble B  or  anti- 
neuritic  (anti-         Anti- 
beriberi)          scorbutic 
factor  factor 


0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 


Value  in 

proportion  to 

amount  of 

animal  fat 

contained 


+ 
+ 


+  -f 


192 


VITAMINES 


Classes  of  foodstuff 
Meat,  fish,  #c. — Cont. 
Heart 
Brain 

Sweetbreads 
Fish,  white 
"     fat  (salmon,  her- 
ring, &c.) 
"     roe 
Tinned  meats 

Milk,  cheese,  $c. 
Milk,  cow 's,  whole,  raw 
"     skim  " 

'  *     dried  whole 
"     boiled   " 


Fat- 
soluble 
A  or  anti- 
rachitic 
factor 

Water-solu- 
ble B  or  anti- 
neuritio  (anti- 
beriberi) 
factor 

Anti- 
scorbutic 
factor 

very  slight,  if  any 


very  slight 


0 


less  than  H — h 
Undeter- 
mined 


'  ' 


Condensed, 
sweetened 
Cheese,  whole  milk 
"      skim 


Fresh 
Dried 

Cereals,  pulses,  #c. 

Wheat,  maize,  rice, 
whole  grain 

Wheat,  germ 

' (      maize,  bran 

White  wheaten  flour, 
pure  cornflour,  pol- 
ished rice,  &c. 

Custard  powders,  egg 
substitutes,  pre- 
pared from  cereal 
products 

Linseed,  millet 

Dried  peas,  lentils,  £e. 

Peaflour  (kilned) 

Soy  beans,  haricot 
beans 

Germinated  pulses  or 
cereals 


0 

+  + 


+. 

+ 


0 

+  + 
0 

+  + 
+  + 


less  than  •+* 


10 
?0 


0 

0 
0 

0 
+  + 


APPENDIX 


199 


Fat- 

Water-solu- 

soluble 

bleB  or  anti- 

A  or  anti- 

neuritic  (anti- 

Anti- 

Classes of  foodstuff 

rachitio 
factor 

beriberi) 
factor 

scorbutic 
factor 

Vegetables  and  fruits 

Cabbage,  fresh 

4  4 

4 

444 

"           "      cooked 

+ 

-f 

dried 

4 

+ 

very  slight 

canned 

(  t 

Swede,  raw  expressed 

juice 

•4~  *4~  *4" 

Lettuce 

4  4 

i 

:            .       . 

Spinach  (dried) 

4  4 

"T 

Carrots,  fresh  raw 

+ 

_J. 

"       dried 
Beetroot,  raw,  ex- 
pressed juice 

very  slight 

less  than  -f- 

Potatoes,  raw 

4-; 

4~ 

"        cooked 

i  i 

-f- 

Beans,    fresh,    scarlet 

runners,  raw 

4  4 

Onions,  cooked 
Lemon  juice,  fresh 

4-  (at  least) 

preserved 

4  4 

Lime  juice,  fresh 

I          I 

4  4 

preserved 
Orange  juice,  fresh 
Easpberriea 

very  slight 
444 
4  4 

Apples 

Bananas 
Tomatoes  (canned) 
Nuts 

+: 

.*. 

very  slight 

Miscellaneous 
Yeast,  dried 
1 1     extract  and  au- 

tolyzed 
Meat  extract 
Malt  extract 

Beer 


4  +  4- 


0 
4  in  some 

specimens 
0 


VITAMINES 


[The  following  memorandum  was  issued  "by  the 
British  Committee  on  Accessory  Food  Factors 
in  June,  1919] 

SOME  FACTS  CONCERNING  NUTRITION, 
FOR  THE  GUIDANCE  OF  THOSE  EN- 
GAGED IN  ADMINISTRATION  OF  FOOD 
RELIEF  TO  FAMINE-STRICKEN  DIS- 
TRICTS 

Recent  research  has  shown  that  the  requirements 
of  the  human  organism  as  regards  diet  cannot  be 
met  entirely  by  an  adequate  supply  of  protein,  fat, 
carbohydrate,  inorganic  salts,  "and  water.  It  has 
therefore  modified  the  common  belief  of  ten  or  more 
years  ago,  when  the  attention  of  physiologists  was 
focused  upon  the  calorie  or  energy  value  of  the 
diet.  It  is  now  established  that,  in  addition  to 
these  necessary  constituents,  certain  unidentified 
principles,  known  as  accessory  food  factors  or 
"vitamines,"  must  also  be  present  in  order  to  main- 
tain health  and  prevent  the  occurrence  of  "defi- 
ciency diseases."  These  substances  have  not  so  far 
been  isolated,  little  is  known  of  their  chemical  or 
physical  properties,  and  at  the  present  time  their 
presence  can  only  be  detected  by  experiments  with 
animals. 

These  accessory  factors  or  vitamines  are  widely 
distributed  among  naturally  occurring  foodstuffs, 
and  in  time  of  peace,  under  normal  conditions  of 
food  supply,  the  variety  of  food  consumed  by  Eu- 


APPENDIX  195 

ropean  nations  protects  them  from  risk  of  any  de- 
ficiency in  these  essential  substances.  Under  the 
conditions  arising  from  the  war  a  different  state  of 
things  exists;  in  addition  to  a  general  shortage  of 
food  there  is  also  a  great  restriction  in  the  variety 
available,  and  danger  from  "deficiency  diseases"  is 
to  be  feared. 

Of  these  diseases  scurvy  is  the  best  known,  and 
the  belief  that  it  is  caused  by  some  deficiency  in  the 
diet  has  long  been  strongly  held.  Kecent  research 
has  added  to  the  deficiency  diseases  beriberi,  rickets, 
and  other  less  well-marked  disorders  of  growth  and 
departures  from  health. 

The  following  notes  have  been  compiled  by  the 
Committee  on  Accessory  Food  Factors  in  the  hope 
that  they  may  afford  practical  help  to  those  occu- 
pied in  the  administration  of  food  relief  to  the  fam- 
ine districts  of  Eastern  Europe.  The  advice  given 
is  based  upon  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of 
the  distribution  of  accessory  food  factors  (vita- 
mines)  in  natural  foodstuffs  and  of  the  role  played 
by  them  in  preventing  disease  and  in  promoting 
health  and  growth. 

The  accessory  food  factors  at  present  recognized 
are  three  in  number : 

(1)  Antineuritic  or  antiberiberi  factor,  identi- 
fied with  the  water-soluble  B  growth  factor  of  the 
American  investigators. 

(2)  Fat-soluble  A  growth  factor  or  antirachitic 
factor. 

(3)  Antiscorbutic  factor. 

As  far  as  is  known  the  accessory  food  factors  can- 


196  VITAMINES 

not  be  produced  by  the  animal  organism,  and  all 
animals  are  dependent  for  their  supply  directly  or 
indirectly  upon  the  plant  kingdom. 

DISTRIBUTION  AND  PROPERTIES  OF  THE  ACCESSORY 
FACTORS 

(1)  Antineuritic  or  Antiberiberi  Factor  ("wa- 
ter-soluble B"  growth  factor  of  the  Americans). 

This  vitamine  prevents  the  occurrence  of  beri- 
beri in  man  and  analogous  diseases  in  animals.  It 
is  also  necessary  to  promote  satisfactory  growth  in 
young  animals.  It  is  widespread,  and  is  found  to 
some  extent  in  almost  all  natural  foodstuffs.  Its 
principal  sources  are  the  seeds  of  plants  and  the 
eggs  of  animals,  where  it  is  deposited,  apparently, 
as  a  reserve  for  the  nutrition  of  the  young  off- 
spring. Highly  cellular  organs  such  as  the  liver 
and  the  brain  contain  considerable  amounts  of  this 
vitamine ;  flesh  contains  comparatively  little.  Yeast 
cells  are  a  rich  source,  so  also  are  yeast  extracts, 
e.g.,  "marmite."  In  the  case  of  peas,  beans,  and 
other  pulses,  this  vitamine  is  distributed  through- 
out the  seed,  but  with  cereals  it  is  concentrated  in 
the  germ  (embryo)  and  in  the  peripheral  layer  of 
the  seed  which  in  milling  is  peeled  off  with  the 
pericarp  and  forms  the  bran. 

Beriberi  is  occasioned  by  a  diet  composed  too  ex- 
clusively of  cereals  from  which  germ  and  bran  have 
been  removed  by  milling,  as  in  the  case  of  polished 
rice  or  white  wheat  flour.  The  disease  is  common 


APPENDIX  197 

where  polished  rice  is  the  staple  article  of  diet  to 
the  almost  entire  exclusion  of  other  foodstuffs.  It 
is  rare,  though  not  unknown,  where  white  wheat 
bread  is  eaten,  because  the  consumption  of  this 
type  of  cereal  food  is  usually  accompanied  by  a 
sufficiency  of  other  foodstuffs  containing  the  essen- 
tial principle.  It  is  unknown  where  rye  bread  is 
the  staple  food,  because  in  the  milling  of  rye  there 
is  no  separation  of  the  germ. 

(2)  The  Fat-Soluble  A  Growth  Factor  or  Anti- 
rachitic  Factor,  necessary  to  promote  Growth  and 
prevent  Rickets  in  young  Animals. 

This  vitamine  appears  to  be  necessary  also  to 
maintain  health  in  adults,  and  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  war  edema  may  be  due  to  a  lack  of 
this  factor  in  the  diet. 

The  main  sources  of  this  factor  are  two  in  num- 
ber: 

( 1 )  certain  fats  of  animal  origin, 

(2)  green  leaves. 

The  most  notable  deposits  of  this  factor  are  in 
cream,  butter,  beef  fat,  fish  oils  (for  example,  cod- 
liver  oil,  whale  oil ) ,  egg  yolk.  It  is  present  in  very 
small  or  negligible  amount  in  lard  (pig  fat)  and 
in  vegetable  oils,  as,  for  example,  linseed  oil,  olive 
oil,  cottonseed  oil,  coconut  oil,  palm  oil ;  peanut  or 
arachis  oil  is  reported  to  contain  it  in  larger 
amount.  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  factor  is  found 
chiefly  in  the  more  expensive  fats. 

While  green-leaf  vegetables  contain  the  fat-sol- 
uble factor,  root  vegetables  are  deficient  in  it;  war 


198  VITAMINES 

edema  has  been  frequently  reported  under  circum- 
stances in  which  root  vegetables  have  formed  a 
large  proportion  of  the  diet. 

(3)  Antiscorbutic  Factor.  This  vitamine  is  nec- 
essary in  a  diet  for  the  prevention  of  scurvy,  and 
is  found  in  fresh  vegetable  tissues  and  (to  a  much 
less  extent)  in  fresh  animal  tissues.  Its  richest 
sources  are  such  vegetables  as  cabbage,  swedes,  tur- 
nips, lettuce,  watercress,  and  such  fruits  as  lemons, 
oranges,  raspberries,  tomatoes.  Inferior  in  value 
are  potatoes,  carrots,  French  beans,  scarlet  run- 
ners, beetroot,  mangolds,  and  also  (contrary  to 
popular  belief)  lime  juice.  Potatoes,  although 
classed  among  the  less  valuable  vegetables  as  re- 
gards antiscorbutic  value,  are  probably  respon- 
sible for  the  prevention  of  scurvy  in  northern  coun- 
tries during  the  winter,  owing  to  the  large  quanti- 
ties which  are  regularly  consumed. 

Milk  and  meat  possess  a  definite  but  low  anti- 
scorbutic value. 

This  vitamine  suffers  destruction  when  the  fresh 
foodstuffs  containing  it  are  subjected  to  heat,  dry- 
ing, or  other  methods  of  preservation. 

All  dry  foodstuffs  are  deficient  in  antiscorbutic 
properties — such  are  cereals,  pulses,  dried  vege- 
tables, and  dried  milk. 

Tinned  vegetables  and  tinned  meat  are  also  de- 
ficient in  antiscorbutic  principle.  In  case  of  tinned 
fruits  the  acidity  of  the  fruit  increases  the  stabil- 
ity of  the  vitamine,  and  prevents,  to  some  extent, 
the  destruction  which  would  otherwise  occur  dur- 


APPENDIX  199 

ing  the  sterilization  by  heat  and  the  subsequent 
storage. 


PRACTICAL  APPLICATION  OF  THE  FOREGOING  FACTS 
TO  THE  PREVENTION  OF  DISEASE 

(1)     Prevention  of  Beriberi 

It  is  unlikely  that  any  danger  of  beriberi  will 
arise  among  the  famine-threatened  districts  of  East- 
ern Europe  as  long  as  wholemeal  flour  from  rye, 
wheat,  barley,  maize,  or  peas,  beans,  and  lentils  are 
provided.  Mere  shortage  of  food  does  not  cause 
beriberi,  and  poverty  ensures  that  the  whole  grain 
is  consumed  for  purposes  of  economy. 

(2)     Prevention  and  Cure 'of  Rickets  or  Growth 
Failure  in  Children  or  War  Edema  in  Adults 

Evidence  is  accumulating  that  rickets  is  caused 
by  a  shortage  not  of  fat  as  such,  but  of  the  "fat- 
soluble  growth  factor"  which  is  contained  in  cer- 
tain fats.  Xerophthalmia,  a  severe  disease  of  the 
external  eye,  leading,  if  untreated,  to  blindness,  has 
also  been  attributed  to  lack  of  this  factor.  Infants 
and  young  children  must  therefore  be  supplied  with 
the  right  kind  of  fat.  To  prevent  rickets  (1)  full 
cream  milk  should  be  secured  for  artificially  fed 
infants  when  possible;  failing  that,  (2)  full  cream 
dried  milk  or  (3)  full  cream  unsweetened  condensed 
milk.  (2)  is  preferred  to  (3),  and,  in  case  of 
ignorant  or  careless  mothers,  even  to  (1),  in  or- 


VITAMINES 

der  to  prevent  spread  of  infection  and  intestinal 
disorders.  In  all  cases  where  (2)  or  (3)  are  used, 
an  extra  antiscorbutic  should  be  given  (see  be- 
low). 

Sweetened  condensed  milk  is  undesirable  for  the 
reason  that  the  degree  of  dilution  required  by  the 
high  sugar  content  renders  the  food,  as  prepared, 
deficient  in  the  fat-soluble  (antirachitic)  factor  as 
well  as  in  fat  and  protein. 

Milk  and  butter  are  the  best  sources  of  the  anti- 
rachitic (or  fat-soluble)  factor  for  young  and  grow- 
ing children;  margarines  made  from  animal  fats 
are  also  valuable;  those  made  from  vegetable  oils 
are  to  be  condemned.  If  there  is  a  shortage  of 
butter  it  should  be  reserved  for  children,  but  if 
totally  lacking  the  deficiency  can  be  replaced  by 
codliver  oil  and  other  fish  oils,  or  by  eggs.  If  all 
animal  fats  are  unavailable,  peanut  oil  should  be 
selected  in  preference  to  other  vegetable  oils  for 
preparation  of  margarines,  etc.,  and  some  effort 
should  be  made  to  utilize  the  fat-soluble  vitamine 
contained  in  green  leaves. 

Green  leaves  are  a  cheap  and  readily  available 
source  of  the  fat-soluble  vitamine,  and  adults  can 
probably  maintain  good  health  when  animal  fats 
are  substituted  by  vegetable  fats  if  green-leaf  vege- 
tables are  consumed  in  fair  quantity.  In  case  of 
this  vitamine,  the  loss  involved  in  ordinary  cook- 
ing is  not  serious.  Unfortunately  infants  or  very 
young  children  cannot  take  green  vegetables  in  the 
ordinary  way,  but  the  juices  expressed  from  cab- 
bages and  other  green-leaf  vegetables,  raw  or  even 


APPENDIX  201 

after  steaming  (not  immersing  in  boiling  water) 
for  a  few  minutes,  might  be  given  even  to  infants 
if  all  other  sources  of  this  most  necessary  vitamine 
have  failed. 

Purees,  carefully  prepared  from  cooked  spinach 
or  lettuce,  can  be  tolerated  in  small  quantities  (one 
teaspoonful  daily)  by  many  young  infants,  and  the 
amount  taken  can  be  increased  regularly  with  age. 

In  cases  where  rickets  or  growth  failure  or 
xerophthalmia  are  already  well  established,  a  daily 
dose  of  codliver  oil  is  essential  in  addition  to  all 
other  procedure. 

Pregnant  and  nursing  mothers  should  have  as 
liberal  a  supply  of  the  fat-soluble  factor  as  is  pos- 
sible. Kickets  is  not  confined  to  artificially  fed 
children.  Breast-fed  children  depend  for  an  ade- 
quate supply  of  this  factor  on  the  milk,  which  in 
turn  depends  upon  the  diet  of  the  mother. 

(3)     Prevention  of  Scurvy 

Use  of  germinated  seeds.  If  fresh  vegetables  or 
fruit  are  scarce  or  absent  an  antiscorbutic  food 
can  be  prepared  by  moistening  any  available  seeds 
(wheat,  barley,  rye,  peas,  beans,  lentils)  and  allow- 
ing them  to  germinate.  It  is  necessary,  of  course, 
that  these  should%be  in  the  natural  whole  condition, 
not  milled  or  split.  The  seeds  should  be  soaked 
in  water  for  24  hours,  and  kept  moist  with  access 
of  air  for  1-3  days,  by  which  time  they  will  have 
sprouted.  This  sprouted  material  possesses  an  anti- 
scorbutic value  equal  to  that  of  many  fresh  vege- 


202  VITAMINES 

tables,  and  should  be  cooked  in  the  ordinary  way 
for  as  short  a  time  as  possible. 

In  case  of  shortage  it  should  be  remembered  that 
salads  are  of  more  value  than  cooked  vegetables. 
The  extent  to  which  the  antiscorbutic  factor  is  de- 
stroyed during  cooking  depends  chiefly  upon  the 
time  employed.  When  supplies  are  limited  vege- 
tables should  be  cooked  separately  and  for  as  short 
a  time  as  possible;  they  should  not  be  cooked  for 
long  periods  with  meat  in  soups  or  stews. 

Preserved  foods,  with  a  few  exceptions,  may  be 
regarded  as  devoid  of  the  antiscorbutic  principle. 
Lemon  juice  retains  some  value  in  this  respect; 
canned  tomatoes  ( and  presumably  other  tinned  acid 
fruits)  have  also  antiscorbutic  value.  Canned  vege- 
tables are  useless  for  prevention  of  scurvy,  as  also 
are  dried  vegetables. 

Infantile  scurvy  must  be  considered  separately  as 
many  of  the  above  foodstuffs  are  unsuited  to  infants 
or  young  children.  To  avert  danger  all  artificially 
nourished  infants  should  receive  an  extra  anti- 
scorbutic. Cow's  milk,  even  when  raw,  is  not  rich 
in  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine ;  when  heated,  dried, 
or  preserved,  the  amount  contained  is  still  further 
reduced.  The  most  suitable  antiscorbutic  material 
to  use  is  fresh  orange  juice,  1-3  or  4  teaspoonfuls 
(5-15  c.c.)  daily,  according  to  age.  Raw  swede  (or, 
if  unavailable,  turnip)  juice  is  a  potent  antiscorbu- 
tic, and  an  excellent  substitute  for  orange  juice;  to 
obtain  the  juice  the  clean-cut  surface  is  grated  on 
an  ordinary  kitchen  grater  and  the  pulp  obtained 
is  squeezed  in  muslin.  Tomato  juice,  even  from 


APPENDIX  203 

canned  tomatoes,  and  grape  juice  can  also  be  used ; 
the  latter  is,  however,  less  potent  than  orange  juice, 
and  a  larger  dose  should  be  given. 

Pregnant  and  nursing  mothers.  If  babies  are 
breast  fed  it  is  important  that  the  pregnant  and 
nursing  mother  should  receive  an  adequate  supply 
of  antiscorbutic  food  in  her  diet.  The  popular  be- 
lief that  green  vegetables  are  harmful  in  such  cases 
is  often  without  foundation.  Infantile  scurvy  is 
not  unknown  in  breast-fed  children. 

It  is  evident  that  many  of  the  above  deficiency 
diseases  are  rife  among  the  populations  of  Central 
and  Eastern  Europe.  It  is  essential,  therefore,  that 
the  principles  set  forth  in  the  preceding  paragraphs 
should  be  fully  understood  by  all  persons  engaged 
in  administering  relief  to  these  districts. 
Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Committee, 

F.  G.  HOPKINS,  Chairman. 
HAERIETTE  CHICK,  Secretary. 
June,  1919. 


EEFEEENCES 

Calories.  The  general  subject  of  calories  is 
treated  in  all  text-books  of  physics.  For  an  ad- 
mirable and  at  the  same  time  elementary  treat- 
ment, E.  A.  Millican  and  H.  G.  Gale's  Practical 
Physics  (Ginn  &  Co.,  New  York,  1920),  Chapter 
9,  is  strongly  recommended.  The  application  of 
calories  to  food  chemistry  and  physiology  is  brought 
out  by  H.  C.  Sherman:  Chemistry  of  Food  and 
Nutrition  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1918), 
chapter  6,  and  W.  H.  Howells:  A  Text-Book  of 
Physiology  (W.  B.  Saunders,  Philadelphia,  1920), 
chapter  51.  Lavoisier's  pioneer  work  is  discussed 
by  T.  M.  Lowry  in  his  Historical  Introduction  to 
Chemistry  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  London,  1915), 
page  385,  and  by  M.  M.  Pattison  Muir  in  his  Heroes 
of  Science  (Chemists)  (Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  London,  1883). 

In  this  country  Dr.  F.  G.  Benedict  is  the  fore- 
most investigator  of  methods  for  measuring  muscu- 
lar activity.  See  for  example  his  paper  on  "Muscu- 
lar Work.  A  Metabolic  Study  with  Special  Eef- 
erence  to  the  Efficiency  of  the  Human  Body  as  a 
Machine,"  published  by  the  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Washington,  No.  187  (1913). 

204 


REFERENCES  205 

Proteins,  fats  and  carbohydrates.  A  very  ele- 
mentary treatment  of  the  three  classes  of  food- 
stuffs may  be  found  in  W.'  M.  Bayliss'  The  Physi- 
ology of  Food  and  Economy  in  Diet  (Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.,  1917),  chapters  3  and  4.  H.  C.  Sher- 
man's Food  Products  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  1915), 
chapter  1,  may  also  be  consulted.  An  account  of 
the  foodstuffs  may  be  found  in  all  text-books  of 
physiology  and  physiological  chemistry;  for  exam- 
ple, G.  N.  Stewart:  A  Manual  of  Physiology  (Wil- 
liam Wood  &  Co.,  New  York,  1917),  chapter  7. 

Inorganic  salts,  water,  condiments,  flavors,  etc. 
These  are  excellently  discussed  in  HowelPs  Physi- 
ology (see  above),  chapter  49.  See  also  Osborne 
and  Mendel's  paper:  "Inorganic  Elements  of  Nu- 
trition." The  Journal  of  Biological  Chemistry, 
volume  34,  page  131,  1918.  For  those  who  are  ac- 
customed to  scientific  literature,  the  chapter  on 
"Water,  Its  Properties  and  Functions"  in  W.  M. 
Bayliss'  Principle  of  General  Physiology  (Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  London,  1915),  page  226,  is 
one  I  would  strongly  recommend.  It  is  the  best 
account  of  all  I  have  ever  read. 

Amino-acids.  The  standard  volume  on  this  sub- 
ject is  F.  P.  Underbill's  The  Physiology  of  the 
Amino-acids  (Yale  Llniversity  Press,  New  Haven, 
1915).  Professor  Mendel  has  well  summarized  his 
and  Dr.  Osbome's  researches  in  a  lecture  on  "Nu- 
trition and  Growth"  which  he  delivered  before  the 


206  VITAMINES 

members  of  the  Harvey  Society  of  New  York,  which 
was  printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  May  8,  1915,  page  1539.  An 
abridged  account  of  Drs.  Osborne  and  Mendel's 
work  may  also  be  found  in  H.  C.  Sherman's  Chem- 
istry of  Food  and  Nutrition  (see  above),  page  62. 

Vitamines  * 

General  summary.  A  very  complete  report,  giv- 
ing full  references  to  individual  papers,  is  the  one 
prepared  by  the  British  Medical  Research  Com- 
mittee (Special  Keport  Series,  No.  38,  London, 
1919).  E.  V.  McCollum's  The  Newer  Knowledge 
of  Nutrition  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1918) 
gives  an  exhaustive  account  of  the  author's  re- 
searches. For  a  further  summary  of  Dr.  McCol- 
lum's work  the  reader  is  referred  to  his  articles  in 
the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
May  12,  1917,  page  1379,  and  September  21,  1918, 
page  937.  Graham  Lusk  in  his  The  Elements  of  the 
Science  of  Nutrition  (W.  B.  Saunders  &  Co., 
Philadelphia,  1917)  devotes  a  chapter  (13)  to  the 
subject.  Another  summary  on  vitamines  is  given 
in  a  paper  by  Katherine  Blunt  and  Chi  Che  Wang 
in  the  Journal  of  Home  Economics,  January,  1920, 
page  1.  Those  possessing  a  knowledge  of  German 
should  consult  Dr.  Funk's  exhaustive  review  in  the 
Ergebnisse  der  Physiologic,  volume  13,  page  125, 

*  The  references  do  not  pretend  to  be  complete,  but  they  rather 
aim  to  present  the  reader  with  a  representative  list.  Those  de- 
siring the  complete  list  may  consult  the  papers  quoted  under 
"General  Summary." 


REFERENCES  207 

1913.  This  article  contains  references  to  all  the 
earlier  literature.  The  role  played  by  vitamines  in 
clinical  medicine  is  discussed  by  F.  G.  Hopkins, 
Sir  James  Barr,  etc.,  in  the  British  Medical  Jour- 
nal, page  147,  1920. 

Historical.  The  necessary  historical  setting  is  to 
be  found  in  the  paper  by  T.  B.  Osborne  and  L.  B. 
Mendel,  published  by  the  Carnegie  Institute  of 
Washington,  1911,  No.  156,  parts  1  and  2.  An  ac- 
count of  F.  G.  Hopkins7  pioneer  researches  may  be 
found  in  the  Analyst,  volume  31,  page  395,  1906 ; 
the  Journal  of  Physiology,  volume  44,  page  425, 
1912;  and  the  Biochemical  Journal,  volume  15, 
page  167,  1913. 

Fat-soluble  A  vitamine.  The  earlier  papers  deal- 
ing with  the  value  of  butter  fat  versus  lard  are  by 
E.  V.  McCollum  and  M.  Davies,  and  T.  B.  Osborne 
and  L.  B.  Mendel,  and  are  printed  in  the  Journal  of 
Biological  Chemistry,  volume  15,  pages  167  and 
311, 1918,  and  volume  16,  page  423, 1913.  The  very 
latest  papers — November,  1920 — are  by  J.  C.  Drum- 
mond  and  K.  H.  Coward  in  the  Biochemical  Jour~ 
nal,  volume  14?  pages  661  and  668,  1920.  The  pos- 
sible relationship  of  this  vitamine  to  the  carotinoid 
pigment — one  constantly  associated  with  the  chloro- 
phyll of  plants — is  discussed  by  Steenbock  in  the 
Journal  of  Biological  Chemistry,  volume  41,  page 
81,  1920,  and  by  L.  S.  Palmer,  Science,  volume  50, 
page  501,  1919.  M.  Stephenson  and  A.  B.  Clark, 
in  their  paper  in  the  Biochemical  Journal,  volume 
14,  page  502,  1920,  discuss  the  eye  disease,  xeroph- 
thalmia,  and  its  possible  relationship  to  the  pres- 


208  VITAMINES 

ence  in  the  diet  of  insufficient  quantities  of  fat- 
soluble  A.  Xerophthalmia  is  also  discussed  in  the 
earlier  papers  by  McCollum  (see  above). 

Two  distinct  vitamines,  fat-soluble  A  and  water- 
soluble  B.  The  proof  that  there  exists  more  than 
one  type  of  vitamine  was  first  shown  by  E.  V.  Mc- 
Collum and  M.  Davies,  Journal  of  Biological  Chem- 
istry, volume  23,  page  181,  1915. 

The  effect  of  heat.  See,  among  others,  H.  Steen- 
bock,  Journal  of  Biological  Chemistry,  volume  35, 
page  577,  1918. 

Beriberi.  The  story  up  to  1913  is  discussed  by 
E.  P.  Vedder  in  book  on  beriberi.  C.  Eijkman's 
classical  paper  appeared  in  the  Archiv  fur  patholo- 
gische  Anatomie,  volume  149,  page  197,  1897. 
Scarcely  less  important  are  the  papers  by  Funk  and 
co-workers  (Journal  of  State  Medicine,  June,  1912, 
page  1 ;  Lancet,  page  1266,  1911 ;  Journal  of  Physi- 
ology, volume  43,  page  395, 1911 ;  Biochemical  Jour- 
nal, volume  8,  page  598,  1914).  See  also  the  papers 
by  W.  P.  Chamberlain  and  others,  Philippine  Jour- 
nal, volume  6,  number  3,  section  B,  medical  sci- 
ences, June,  1911,  page  177;  A.  Harden  and  S.  S. 
Zilva,  Biochemical  Journal,  volume  11,  page  172, 
1917;  H.  Chick  and  E.  M.  Hume,  Proceedings  of 
the  Royal  Society,  section  B,  volume  60,  1917;  A. 
K.  Leggale,  Edinburgh  Journal  of  Medicine,  vol- 
ume 24,  page  32,  1920 ;  and  A.  D.  Emmet  and  G.  O. 
Luros,  Journal  of  Biological  Chemistry,  volume  43, 
pages  265  and  287, 1920. 

Scurvy.    An  exhaustive  treatise  is  the  very  re- 
cent publication  of  A.  F.  Hess:  Scurvy  Past  and 


REFERENCES  209 

Present  ( J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  Philadelphia.  1920). 
In  this  country  Drs.  McCollum  and  Hess  have 
done  much  experimental  work  on  scurvy.  Dr.  Mc- 
Collum's  papers  are  included  in  those  quoted  un- 
der "Summary."  A  summary  of  Dr.  Hess's  re- 
searches is  given  in  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  September  21,  1918,  page  941. 
Among  English  investigators,  Drs.  Harden  and 
Chick  stand  out  prominently.  Accounts  of  their 
work  may  be  found  in  the  Biochemical  Journal, 
volume  12,  pages  131  and  270,  1918,  and  volume  13, 
page  199,  1919.  The  effect  of  heat  on  the  water- 
soluble  C  vitamine  is  discussed  by  E.  M.  Delf  and 
R.  F.  Skelton  in  the  Biochemical  Journal,  volume 
12,  page  448,  1918.  A  useful  survey  is  that  drawn 
up  by  the  food  (war)  committee  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety, published  in  Lancet,  Nov.  30,  1919,  page  756. 

Rickets.  Early  suggestions  that  rickets  might  be 
due  to  a  deficiency  in  the  vitamine  content  of  the 
food  consumed  were  made  by  Hopkins  (Analyst, 
volume  31,  page  395,  1906)  and  Funk  (Die  Vita- 
mine,  1914).  The  papers  by  McCollum,,  Osborne 
and  Mendel  quoted  above  discuss  the  fat-soluble 
A  vitamine,  particularly  in  reference  to  the  eye  dis- 
ease xerophthalmia.  Much  of  the  clinical  work  in 
this  country  has  been  done  by  Hess  and  co-workers 
(Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
page  1583,  1917;  page  900,  1918,  and  page  218, 
1920).  In  England  Dr.  Mellanby  has  been  an  ac- 
tive worker  (see  Lancet,  March  15, 1919,  page  407). 

Pellagra.    The  most  important  work  on  this  sub- 
ject is  by  Dr.  Goldberger  and  his  associates  (see 


210  VITAMINES 

the  Washington  Public  Health  Reports,  volume  31, 
page  3159, 1916,  volume  33,  page  481, 1918 ;  Journal 
of  the  American  Medical  Association,  page  944, 
1918;  and  Archives  of  Internal  Medicine,  volume 
25,  page  421, 1920) .  Historically,  the  paper  by  Funk 
(Journal  of  Tropical  Medicine,  volume  6,  page  166, 
1913)  is  of  extreme  interest.  Dr.  McCollum's  con- 
tributions should  also  be  consulted  (Journal  of 
Biological  Chemistry,  volume  32,  pages  29,  171  and 
347,  1917;  volume  30,  page  13,  1917;  and  the  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Physiology,  volume  41,  pages  333 
and  361,  1917). 

The  nursing  mother.  Infant  feeding.  Consult 
J.  L.  Morse  and  F.  B.  Talbot :  Diseases  of  Nutrition 
and  Infant  Feeding  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York, 
1920).  The  scarcity  of  the  antiscorbutic  factor  in 
milk  is  discussed  by  Hess  and  Fish,  American  Jour- 
nal of  Diseases  of  Children,  volume  8,  page  385, 
1914;  and  by  Chick  and  Hume,  Biochemical  Jour- 
nal, volume  12,  page  131,  1918.  See  also  the  excel- 
lent pamphlet  distributed  by  the  Connecticut  Ag- 
ricultural Experiment  Station,  New  Haven,  Conn., 
entitled  The  Food  Value  of  Milk  (prepared  by  E.  L. 
Ferry.  Bulletin  215,  December,  1919 ).  The  London 
Local  Government  Food  Reports  discuss  dried  milk 
in  infant  feeding  (report  No.  84,  1918)  and  pro- 
prietary infants'  food  (report  No.  20,  1914).  The 
value  of  dried  milk  is  also  the  subject  of  critical 
comment  in  an  article  by  E.  M.  Hume  and  R.  S. 
Barnes,  Biochemical  Journal,  volume  13,  page  306, 
1919.  See  also  the  article  by  Dr.  W.  N.  Bradley  on 
Feeding  the  New-born  (Archives  of  Pediatrics,  vol- 


REFERENCES  211 

ume  37,  page  144,  1920) ;  and  the  discussion  by  Dr. 
Mellanby  and  others  (Proceedings  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Medicine,  volume  13,  section  of  diseases  of 
children,  page  77,  1920). 

Vitamine  content  of  different  foods.  The  table 
pn.ven  on  page  191  of  this  book  should  prove  useful. 
?he  article  by  M.  Davies  and  collaborators  (Jour- 
nal of  Home  Economics,  volume  12,  page  207, 1920) 
should  also  be  consulted.  Attempts  at  quantitative 
estimations  are  discussed  in  the  paper  by  W.  H. 
Eddy  and  H.  C.  Stevenson,  Journal  of  Biological 
Chemistry,  volume  43,  page  295,  1920. 

Nomenclature.  The  suggestion  that  "vitamin" 
be  substituted  for  "vitamine,"  because  the  ending 
"in,"  according  to  the  English  Chemical  Society, 
represents  a  neutral  substance  of  unidentified  com- 
position, whereas  the  "ine"  terminology  is  asso- 
ciated with  a  group  of  well-known  organic  sub- 
stances, is  made  by  J.  C.  Drummond,  Biochemical 
Journal,  volume  14,  page  660,  1920. 

Clinical  Symptoms.  The  clinical  symptoms  of 
the  various  diseases  discussed  in  this  book  are  de- 
scribed in  various  books  dealing  with  the  practice 
of  medicine.  One  of  the  best  known  of  these  is  Sir 
William  Osier's  The  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Medicine  (D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1920). 

Miscellaneous.  McCollum  and  Simmonds:  The 
American  Home  Diet  (Frederick  C.  Mathews  Co., 
Detroit,  1920). 

Vernon  Kellog  and  A.  E.  Taylor:  The  Food 
Problem  (Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1917), 


212  VITAMINES 

Graham  Lusk:  The  Fundamental  Basis  of  Nu- 
trition (Yale  University  Press,  New  Haven,  1915). 

J.  Ifc.  Smith :  The  World's  Food  Resources 
(Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1919). 

E.  H.  Starling :  The  Feeding  of  Nations  ( Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  London,  1919). 

L.  J.  Henderson:  The  Fitness  of  the  Environ- 
ment (Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1913). 

A.  W.  McCann:  The  Famishing  World  (George 
H.  Doran  &  Co.,  New  York,  1918). 

H.  D.  Chapin :  "How  the  Pediatric  Teaching  of 
Nutrition  May  Affect  the  Nation's  Welfare." 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Au- 
gust 7,  1920,  page  364. 

W.  A.  Brown:  "A  Study  of  the  Malnutrition 
Among  School  Children."  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  July  3,  1920,  page  27. 

H.  C.  Sherman:  "Food  Chemistry  in  the  Serv- 
ice of  Human  Nutrition."  Journal  of  Industrial 
and  Engineering  Chemistry,  May,  1918,  page  383. 

J.  K.  Murlin :  "Diet  of  the  United  States  Army 
Soldiers."  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, September  21,  1918,  page  950. 

Paul  Both :  "The  Civilian  War  Kation."  Jour- 
nal of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Septem- 
ber 21,  1918,  page  952. 

H.  E.  Dubin  and  M.  J.  Lewi :  "The  Preparation 
of  a  Stable  Vitamine  Product  and  Its  Value  in  Nu- 
trition." American  Journal  of  Medical  Sciences, 
February,  1920,  page  1. 

M.  T.  Wellman:  "Recent  Advances  in  Our 
Knowledge  of  Food  Selection  and  Preparation." 


REFERENCES 


213 


Journal  of  Home  Economics,  January,  1920,  page 
15. 

J.  E.  Murlin :  "What  We  Have  Learnt  in  Die- 
tetics in  the  Army/'  Journal  of  Home  Economics, 
March,  1920,  page  97. 

Chi  Che  Wang :  "Is  the  Chinese  Diet  Adequate  ?" 
Journal  of  Home  Economics,  July,  1920,  page  289. 


INDEX 


Accessory  substance,  110 

See  vitamine 
Adrenalin,  95,  112 
Air,  fresh,  48 
Alcohol,  50 
Amino-acids,  52-82,  165,  205 

constituents   of    proteins,   55, 
189,  190 

importance  of,  59 
Animal  starch.    See  glycogen 
Animals,  feeding  of  farm,  75 

used  in  vitamine  studies,  139 
Antineuritie  vitamine,  138 
Antirachitic  vitamine,  138 
Antiscorbutic  vitamine,  138 

foods   containing,   146 
Artificial  feeding,  175 
Ash,  see  mineral  matter 
Auximones,  113 

origin  of,  114 

related  to  vitamines,  113 

Barlow,    140 

Barnes,  210 

Barr,  207 

Bayliss,  33,  49,  93,  149,  205 

Benedict,  14,  204 

Beriberi  symptoms,  116 

among  the  Japanese,  116 

identical    with    water-soluble 
B,  125 

prevention  of,  199 

literature,  208 

see  polyneuritis,  water-soluble 

B  vitamine,  yeast 
Bertrand,  112 
Beverages,  table,  181 
Block,  133 


Blunt,  206 
Bottomley,  113,  114 
Bradley,  211 
Bread,  178 
Brown,  212 


Calcium,  42 

Calories,  5-15,  16,  17,  162,  204 

Calorimeter,  7,  8 

Canning,  effect  of,  on  vitamine 

content  of  food,  151 
see  vitamines,  effect  of  heat 

on 

Carbohydrates,  17,  18 
function  of,  19,  20,  22 
changes  in  the  body,  84 
Carbohydrates,    fats    and    pro- 
teins, 16-35,  162 
function  of,  19,  205 
Casein  (in  milk),  as  a  source  of 

protein,  77 
Cereals,  186 

vitamine  content  of,  192 
see  bread 

Chamberlain,  122,  208 
Chapin,  212 
Chemical  action,  illustration  of, 

41 
Chicle,  132,  133,  149,  151,  208, 

209,  210 

CUttenden,  29,  30,  158 
Cohen,  146 

Condiments,  49,  164,  205 
Cook,  139 
Coward,  207 
Curves,  how  to  plot,  60 
interpretation  of,  64 


215 


216 


INDEX 


D'Arcet,  53 

Davies,  207,  211 

Delf,  209 

Diet,    a    satisfactory,    33,    108, 
109,  169 

Diseases,  deficiency,  due  to  lack 
of  vitamines,  121,  168 

Druminond,  106,  207,  211 

Drying,  effect  of,   on   vitamine 

content  of  food,  151 
see    canning;    vitamines,    ef- 
fect of  heating  of 

Dubin,  212 

Eddy,  211 

Edestin  (in  hemp),  as  a  source 

of  protein,  79 

Eggs,  vitamine  content  of,  192 
Eijkman,    118,    119,    120,    121, 

122,  208 
Emmett,  208 
Energy  requirements,  of  man, 

11,  12 

of  woman,  12 
of  children,  12 
of  an  army,  13 
see    mental    work;    food    re- 
quirements 
Enzymes,  95,  112 
Equation,  chemical,  22,  23 

Fairchild,  182 
Fats,  17,  18,  19 

function  of,  20,  21,  22 
changes  in  the  body,  89 
indispensability  of,  90 
>  nutritive  value   of    different, 

100 

see  lard 
Fat-soluble    A    vitamine,    104, 

105,  106,  109,  166,  207 
distribution  of,  136 
see    rickets;    xerophthalmia; 
vitamines ;  antirachitic 

vitamine 

Fats    and    oils,    vitamine    con- 
tent of,  191 


Ferry,  177,  210 

Fish,  210 

Fish,  145,  181,  186 

vitamine  content  of,  192 
Flavors,  see  condiments 
Fletcher,  26,  27 
' '  Fletchcrism, ' '  26 
Food   relief   in   famine-stricken 

countries,    194-203 
Food  requirements,  in  terms  of 

calories,  8,  9 
minimum,  24 
instinct  as  guide  to,  25 
of  soldiers,  34 
see  energy  requirements 
Foods,  composition  and  calorie 
value   of   the  more   impor- 
tant, 186 
Frazer,  122 
Fruits,  importance  of,  170,  179, 

180,  187 

vitamine  content  of,  193 
Funk,  91,  96,  102,  110,  123,  124, 
125,    128,    131,    133,    135, 
138,   206,   208,   209,   210 
Furst,  152 

Gale,  204 
Gelatin,  52 

a  poor  type  of  protein,  57 
Gies,86,  96 
Givens,  142,  146 
Glisson,  130 
Glucose,  85 
Glycerin,  88 

Glycocoll,  significance  of,  69 
Glycogen,  83-87 
Goldberger,  153,  154,  156,  157, 
169,  209 

Eaber,  184 

Harden,  148,  149,  151,  208,  209 
Hawk,  105 

Heat,  measuring,  4,  6 
Henderson,  212 

Hess,  120,  134,  135,  145,  153, 
208,  209,  210 


INDEX 


217 


Hill,  49 

Hindhede,  30,  158 

Hoffman,  142 

Hoist,  144 

Hopkins,   59,    91,   96,   97,   100, 

102,  110,  121,  128,  132,  133, 
149,  207,  209 

Howell,  204,  205 
Hume,  208,  210 

Infant,  needs  of  the,  174,  210 
Inorganic   matter,   see   mineral 

matter 

Iodine,  in  the  body,  112 
Iron,  44 

Joliansen,  150 
Kellog,  179,  211 

Lactalbumin    (in    milk),   as    a 
source  of  protein,  73 

Lard,  an  unsatisfactory  fat,  99, 

100 
see  fats 

Lavoisier,  2,  3,  8,  204 

Leggale,  208 

Lewi,  212 

Lipoids,  97,  98 

Living  matter,  composition  of, 
38 

Lowry,  204 

Lunin,  91 

Luros,  208 

Luslc,  206,  212 

Lysine,  significance  of,  69,  74 

McCann,  212 

MoCollum,    99,    100,    101,    102, 

103,  104,  106,  109,  110,  128, 
131,  143,  144,  206,  207,  209, 
210,  211 

Manganese,    influence     of,     on 

plant  growth,  112 
Meat,  179,  186 

vitamine  content  of,  192 


Medical  (British)  Research 
Committee's  report,  206 

Mellanby,  131,  132,  133,  135, 
209,  211 

Mendel,  59,  60,  65,  68,  69,  81, 

99,  100,  101,  128,  131,  146, 
158,  160,  172,  188,  205,  207, 
209 

Mental     work,     effect     of     on 
energy  requirements,  14,  15 
Milk,  19,  91,  210 

poor  in  water-soluble  C  vita- 
mine,  145,  210 
importance  of,  169,  170 
breast,  174 

modified,     dried     and     con- 
densed, 175 

value  of,  for  child,  176 
composition,  187 
vitamine  content,  192 
Milk  sugar  (lactose),  in  infant 

feeding,  86 

vitamine  in  impure,  103 
MilliJcan,  204 

Mineral  matter,  36-45,  164,  205 
elements  in,  37 
function  of,  38 
compared  with  organic  food- 
stuffs, 45 
Mockeridge,  114 
More,  210 
Mother,  the  nursing,   173,  201, 

203,  210 
Muir,  204 
Murlin,  212,  213 

N  onsen,  150 
Neutrality,  body,  40 
Nitrogen  equilibrium,  27,  28 

Organic  chemistry,  110 
Osborne,  59,  60,  65,  69,  80,  99, 

100,  101,  128,  131,  158,  205, 
207,  209 

Osier,  120,  211 
Oxidation  in  the  body,  10 
Oxygen,  2,  164 
function  of,  47-48 


218 


INDEX 


Palmer,  207 
Pellagra,  153,  209 

in  the  South,  153 

symptoms,  154 

not  an  infection,  155 

type  of   diet   a  factor,   156, 
158-9 

outbreak  in  Egypt  in   1918, 

156 

Phosphatids,  43 
Phosphorus,  42 

for  the  brain,  43 
Pits,  143 

Plants,   influence   of   vitamines 
on  growth  of,  113 

see  auximones 
Polyneuritis,  in  fowls,  118 

identical  with  beriberi,  119 

see  water-soluble  B  vitamine 
Priestley,  2 
Protein,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21 

function  of,  21,  23 

requirement  of,  25,  26,  29,  57 

objections  to  a  low  diet  of, 
30,  31,  32 

amino-acid  content  of,  58 

animal   and   vegetable,    com- 
pared, 65 

importance  of  certain  amino- 
acids  in,  69 

see  proteins 

" Protein-free  milk,"  65 
Proteins,    biological    value    of 
different,  80 

of  animal  origin,  80 

of  vegetable  origin,  80 

see  protein 

Rats,   use   of,   in   experiments, 

60 
Eice,  polished,  119 

cured,  119,  122 
Richardson,  115 
Rickets,  128,   209 

due  to  absence  of  fat-soluble 

A,  129,  131,  133 
anatomical  features,  130 


Rickets,      diminished     calcium 
content,  130 

symptoms,  130 

prevention  of,  199 
Eoffers,  184 
Roth,  212 


Salt,  40 
ScoU,  150 
Scurvy,  137,  208 

symptoms,  137 

due  to  vitamine  deficiency 
(water-soluble  C),  138,  144, 
146 

animals  used  in  experiments, 
139 

history  of,  139 

infantile,  140,  202 

not  bacteriological  in  origin, 
141,  142 

McCollum's  view,  143 

at  the  siege  of  Kut,  148 

in  northern  Russia,  148 

value  of  fruit  and  vegetables, 
151 

prevention  of,  201 
Seidell,  148 
Sherman,  10,  178,  204,  205,  206, 

212 

Simmonds,  211 
Skelton,  209 
Smith,  212 
Soap,  88 
Stanton,  122 
Starling,  149,  212 
Steeribock,  207 
Stefanson,  137,  149,  150 
Stepp,  97,  98,   100 
Stevenson,  211 
Stewart,  205 

Stimulants,  see  condiments 
Stomach,  acid  in  the,  41 
Stunting,  80 
Sugar,  181,  187 

see  carbohydrates 
SydenstricTcer,  157 


INDEX 


219 


TdkaU,  117,  118,  120,  121 

Talbot,  210 

Tashiro,  14 

Taylor,  179,  211 

Tryptophane,     significance     of, 

59,  69,  74 
Tyrosine,  significance  of,  59 

Underhill,  160,  205 

Vedder,  208 

Vegetables,  importance  of,  170, 

179,  180 

vitamine  content  of,  193 
Vegetarianism,  177 
Vitamine,  objections  to  the  use 

of  the  word,  109 
see  vitamines 
Vitamine  A.    See  fat-soluble  A 

vitamine 
Vitamine  B,  see  water-soluble  B 

vitamine 
Vitamine  C,  see  water-soluble  C 

vitamine 
Vitamines,    91-111,    166,    194, 

206 

definition  of,  95,  126 
function  of,  96,  167 
two  distinct,  104,  208 
not  yet  isolated,  108,  123 
and  plant  growth,  112-115 
three  types  of,  138 
effect  of  heat,  167,  208,  209; 
see  canning  and  desiccation 
classification  of,  188,  195 


Vitamines,  distribution  of,  in 
the  commoner  foodstuffs, 
191-193,  196-199,  211 

nomenclature,  211 

see  fat-soluble  A;  water- 
soluble  B;  water-soluble 
C ;  beriberi ;  rickets; 
scurvy;  pellagra;  auxi- 
mones ;  antiscorbutic ;  an- 
tirachitic ;  antineuritie 

Wang,  206,  212 

Water,  46-47,  164,  205 

Water-soluble  B  vitamine,  104, 

105,  106,  109,  166 
test  for,  126 

see  beriberi ;  antineuritie  vita- 
mine;  vitamines 

Water-soluble  C  vitamine,  138, 

167 

see  scurvy ;  antiscorbutic 
vitamine ;  vitamines 

Wellman,  212 

Wells,  120 

Wheeler,  157 

Williams,  125,  167 

Xerophthalmia,  128,  207,  208, 
209 

Yeast,  a  cure  for  beriberi,  122 
vitamine  content  of,  193 

Zein  (in  maize),  as  a  source  of 

protein,  68,  69 
Zttva,  208 


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